


Jump Back

by JCapasso



Series: Making It Count [2]
Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:42:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 52
Words: 88,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28180344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JCapasso/pseuds/JCapasso
Summary: Audrey arrives in the past only to find that she missed the mark by about four months. At least there's still plenty of time to carry out her plan.
Relationships: Duke Crocker/Audrey Parker
Series: Making It Count [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064303
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

Audrey double checked to make sure her hood was pulled over her head to cover her face as soon as she appeared on the dock near where the Cape Rouge was kept before the Gull. A quick glance around showed that she was in the right place, but apparently not the right time since the boat wasn’t here. Her next stop was to find a newspaper and check the date to see where she might start looking to find Duke, but the longer she stayed in the open the more chance of her being spotted. She moved to the newspaper stand, glad that secretive people clearly trying to hide weren’t out of place here on the docks. When she saw the date she cursed. She was four months late. That meant that Duke already had the Gull and that’s where the Rouge would be. And the Gull was outside of town on the opposite end from the safe house. This was going to be a nightmare. She was just glad that Duke had thought to make sure she had plenty of cash on hand and told him who to go to for a discreet ride that would be safe and not try to hurt her. 

It took less than half of her money for a ride to the Gull and for him to wait until she was done with her business and then take her close enough to the safehouse for her to walk the rest of the way. Duke had told her that there was no way his past self would ever take her there himself, no matter how much she proved to know. He would assume it was some sort of trick or trap which meant that she would have to make her own way there and let him find her. Once she got out of the truck, still not having shown her face, and her ride headed in to the bar to grab a drink while he waited, she made her way to the Cape Rouge. She tried the door first and found it locked, but they’d planned for this eventuality too. It wasn’t like she could wait in the open for him and risk being spotted. She went around the back of the boat to the storage locker that he never kept locked just for this purpose. It was a secret hatch to get inside in case anyone ever highjacked the boat and locked him out. Or he locked himself out, not that he would admit to ever using it for that. 

She quickly found the two latches and unlocked them in the right order and slid through the opening only to find a gun in her face. “Who are you and how did you know about that hatch?” Duke asked coldly. Audrey slowly reached her hands up to lower her hood and he lowered his gun at the same time. “Audrey? What…did you just change?” He was more than a little confused right now. 

Audrey remembered what future Duke said about messing with his head and she closed the distance between them and tangled his hands in her hair, kissing him hard and deep for a good long moment. He kissed her back, of course. He could never not, but she could tell he was completely discombobulated. When she stepped back his arms were up and out like he had been about to hold her, but then thought better of it and he just blinked in surprise, unable to even find words, so she did. “I am so sorry that I didn’t make our date. It’s always been one of my greatest regrets.” She had hoped to fix that this time around, but she was too late. 

“Always been…but…it was only a month ago,” Duke said confusedly. 

“I’m from the future,” she told him and handed him the letter. “Read that and come find me,” she said cryptically as she pulled her hood back up and slipped back out the same hatch she’d come in since it was right there and she needed to lock it back again anyway. She had to tell him that much already so that he wouldn’t go and call her current self and ask what the hell she was doing, but anything more needed to wait until he believed her, at least a little bit. She had no idea what Duke had written to his past self, but was sure that it would at least get him started on the road to believing and then she could do the rest. She moved back to the truck she’d come here in and leaned on it to set the alarm off as the signal to her ride whose name she didn’t know and didn’t want to know and he came out a few minutes later and drove her to the agreed upon location. She only had two miles to walk to get to the safe house from there and got there half an hour later, using the secret way in that Duke had told her about. 

She was a little surprised at how nice it was. It was minimalist, sure, but she would have expected no less. From a safehouse or from Duke. It was fully furnished though with enough non-perishables to eat to get her through at least a week even if the current Duke didn’t come, but she knew he would. Probably soon. She decided to kill the time while she waited to unpack and take inventory. She found a stash of probably stolen jewelry first thing as she was going to put her clothes away and just avoided that drawer instead of messing with it. She also avoided the drawer full of pot. She reminded herself that this was somewhere that no one but him knew about otherwise he would never leave that sort of thing so easily found. She found an entire closetful of packaged iphones in one of the closets while she was looking for the bedding and left those alone too. 

She was just finishing up making the bed when she turned around and found Duke scrutinizing her from the doorway. “You realize that anything you find here would be considered an illegal search and wouldn’t hold up in court,” he had to say. No matter how much his future self seemed to trust her, even giving her access to this place to begin with, he needed his own assurances. 

“I have no intention of arresting you, Duke,” she chuckled. “I would have thought your future self would have told you that in the letter.”

“You didn’t read it?” he asked curiously. 

“He told me I’d have to ask you if I wanted to read it,” she said amusedly. He considered it for a moment before shrugging and handing it over. He wanted her thoughts on parts of it anyway. He wasn’t quite ready to let his guard down yet though. Not until he had more information. Audrey took the letter gently and started reading. 

Duke,  
If it feels weird reading a letter you wrote yourself, trust me it feels even weirder writing it. I know that this is going to be hard for you to believe, but you can trust Audrey completely. At least the version from the future. The one in your time isn’t quite loosened up enough for the bigger stuff yet. It goes against every instinct to trust a cop so much, I know, but you wouldn’t lie to yourself would you? If all went according to plan, which knowing our lives it didn’t, you should be getting this letter within a day or two of meeting her for the first time, so you probably haven’t figured out what the weird connection thing you feel around her is, but I’ll tell you. You love her and by some miracle, she loves us too. It took a little while to get past the cop thing sure, and our first try didn’t go so well, but we worked it out eventually so don’t be afraid to let her in.   
Now to the important stuff. Things went really crappy here in the future. The troubles are back as you’ll see for yourself soon, and this time they didn’t go away and got a lot worse. She can fill you in on the details. Most of them anyway. There are some things that I’ve told her not to tell you until the right time. I know you know the time travel rules. As much as there is that needs to be changed, there’s some things we need to stay the same, so don’t be too hard on her when you learn the secrets. Since she needs to stay out of sight, I’ve offered her the use of the hideaway. That’s where you’ll find her. Don’t worry, she won’t arrest you for anything. She loves us remember and she’s on our side. She’ll need your help to keep stocked among other things that she’ll fill you in on. One of them is setting up a meeting with Garland Wuornos. Not at the hideaway of course. It’ll need to be on the Rouge or somewhere else she can stay out of public sight. Dealing with the chief of police sucks, but in this case it’s necessary. To save the whole town.   
So to sum up. Trust her. Help her. Love her. Have fun and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.   
Sincerely,  
Your future self.


	2. Chapter 2

Audrey snorted in amusement. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Really,” she said as she folded the letter back up and handed it to him. 

“It didn’t go according to plan,” Duke pointed out, relaxing a fraction as he motioned her back towards the living room where they plopped on the couch. He had clearly recognized his own handwriting so he knew that it was genuine at least. 

“No. I came back via trouble. Someone who had the ability to zap people through time. Landed you back in nineteen fifty five at one point,” she chuckled. “He’d never sent anyone intentionally or with a target date before so it’s not surprising that he missed the mark.” 

“By about four months,” Duke told her, not sure how up she was on the date. 

“Yeah, I checked a newspaper when I got here so I would know where to find you when the Rouge wasn’t at the docks. Thankfully, we had a contingency plan and you sent me to berth eighty seven to buy a ride.” 

“He didn’t bring you here did he?” Duke asked suspiciously. 

“Of course not. He dropped me off at the old hunting cabin on the other side of the woods and I walked the rest of the way,” Audrey rolled her eyes. “I’m not an idiot.” 

“Okay good. I just had to be sure. You realize that you’re only the second person alive that knows this place even exists, right?” Duke asked her. 

“I know,” she told him. “And it’s going to stay that way. You have my word.” 

“Okay. Good,” Duke relaxed, reminding himself that he could trust her. At least his future self thought so and if he couldn’t trust himself then who could he trust? “You said something about regretting missing our date?” he had to ask since that part was out of the way. 

“Yeah,” she sighed sadly. “I’d hoped to be here before that so I could warn you even if my other self didn’t. Maybe even have it here instead or something. You have to know though, that it wasn’t because I didn’t care. It was just the opposite. I cared too much and that scared the crap out of me. I mean, I’m a cop and you’re a criminal. I didn’t know you well enough yet to get around that in my own head. I wasn’t quite as quick as you were at getting over that divide.”

“But you did eventually,” he half-asked, half-said. 

“Yeah. I did. Not too long from now actually. But then I thought it was too late and it kinda was. It was a long time before you were ready to take a chance again,” she explained. 

“I can believe that,” Duke admitted. 

Audrey reached over and took his hand, noticing his instinctual flinch away before he stopped it and threaded their fingers together. “Hurting you that night really has been my greatest regret, you know,” she said softly, knowing that he would never admit how much it hurt. Not in this time. He barely had when they’d talked about it in the future. But she needed him to know that she knew it. 

“I’m…not really sure how this is supposed to work. I mean…there’s two of you and…”

She got what he meant. It was the same concern his future self had. “She’s still me. Anything you have with her is fine with me, no matter what you want to have with me and I’m sure that if she could know about me, she would feel the same. You should know though…at least one of us, if not both of us, will have to leave in a little over a year.” 

“What do you mean?” Duke asked confused. 

“For the troubles to end, she will have to go into this…barn…really more of an otherworldly portal to another place. That’s what ends the troubles. We have to come out and recharge for a while and then we go back into the barn for another twenty-seven years and then we come back with a new identity. That’s the cycle that was interrupted last time around. The barn was destroyed, and the troubles got way out of hand. That’s what I have to stop.”

“So you have to make her go?” Duke asked, trying to wrap his head around all this. 

“No, she’ll go. Once she understands why, she won’t hesitate. I have to stop the person who destroyed the barn from doing it,” she explained, trying not to throw too much at him too soon. “On the off chance that she decides not to go, I’ll go in her place. One way or another, the troubles /have/ to end.” 

“You said you might both have to go?” Duke asked worriedly. 

“We might,” she nodded. “I don’t really know much about how the barn works. I know that it requires my energy to power it, but I don’t know if one of me staying here will interfere with that or not. I also don’t know if I’ll disappear when time catches up to itself even if I can stay.” 

“So you’re saying that whatever I have with either of you could have a time limit,” Duke realized. 

“Yeah,” she said sadly. “I didn’t want you getting into this only to be blindsided with that later.”

“Getting into…what exactly?” he asked, still feeling more than a little off-balance. 

“I love you, Duke. I’ve always loved you. More than that though, you’re my best friend. This is whatever you want it to be. Whatever you’re comfortable with at whatever /pace/ you’re comfortable with.” 

Duke considered that for a moment before leaning over and kissing her gently. He hadn’t really been mentally present enough last time to comprehend anything and he needed to see for himself if his future self was right. The moment their lips met, he knew that he was. That this, right here, was everything he never knew he needed. She let him set the tone and when he deepened the kiss and pulled her closer, she tangled her hands in his hair and sank into his embrace. When they broke apart, resting their foreheads together, he couldn’t really form words. The only thing part of him wanted to say, the other part of him wouldn’t let him. Not yet. So, they just sat there in silence for a long moment as she carded her fingers through his hair. 

“I forgot how short you kept your hair,” she finally said amusedly. 

“It was longer in your time?” he asked curiously. This was a topic he could accept. It could get him back on level ground. 

“Mhmm. Down past your shoulders. You usually kept it tied back,” she told him. “I liked playing with it.” 

“I’ll have to grow it out again then,” he decided. He’d been planning to do that anyway and obviously he’d gone through with it last time around. He couldn’t help but lean forward for one more quick kiss before he shifted around, wrapping his arms around her and she settled comfortably to his side. “So other than groceries what do you need?” he asked her, getting back to the important things. 

“A burner cell. So that I can keep in contact with you and the chief,” she told him. “Also, an update on what’s going on right now so I can figure out where to go next, but I know that you weren’t always in the loop as much in this time, so I might need to wait to talk to the chief for that.” 

“Well, I know that yesterday we helped a chick with a drawing trouble if that’s the kind of info you were looking for,” Duke told her. “You came into the Gull earlier and ordered a couple martinis to thank me for helping.” 

“And you told me to ‘lower my expectations’,” she chuckled as she remembered that conversation. 

“I guess you took my advice,” he said amusedly. 

“Not lowered. Just shifted,” she told him. “I started paying more attention to the /right/ things.” 

He couldn’t help the smile that broke out at that as he kissed her head, but had no idea what to say to that so he changed the subject again. “So about your meeting with the chief…I don’t really /like/ the chief of police on my boat, you understand, but I can live with it this once. But do you have any ideas how to actually /get/ him there?” 

“Tell him it’s urgent and it’s about the troubles. If that doesn’t work, and /only/ if that doesn’t work, tell him that there’s a time travel trouble and someone from the future needs to talk to him urgently. I don’t want too much information bandied about in public,” she told him. “If that still doesn’t work, just tell him whatever you need to.” 

“You realize that he hates me and doesn’t trust me as far as he can throw me, right? Which means that he isn’t going to trust anyone that would come to me for help,” Duke pointed out. 

“He will if you point out that I came to you so that you could help me hide rather than having two of me running around. Hiding people and thing is kinda your specialty.” 

“Okay. That could work,” Duke nodded thoughtfully. “Is tomorrow good for you? It’s pretty late tonight.” 

“Yeah. Tomorrow’s fine,” she agreed with a yawn now that he mentioned the time. 

“Okay. I’ll have your burner phone for you then and I’ll come pick you up once I get him to agree to a meeting time, so keep an eye out,” he told her, hesitating for a second before leaning down for one more lingering kiss. “Goodnight, Audrey.” 

“Night, Duke,” she said happily as he headed out the back door and she looked out after him as he went to the boat and pulled away from the dock before she went to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Duke was heading into the police station, feeling more than a little nervous and uncomfortable about what he was about to do, but he had to suck it up and do it anyway. And letting anyone see his nerves was very much not his style. As he walked in the door, Nathan saw him right away. “What are you doing here?” he asked suspiciously. 

“I’m here to see the chief actually,” Duke told him. 

“Why?” Nathan asked incredulously. 

“I’d like to know the answer to that too,” Garland said as he came up behind Duke. 

“Alone,” Duke said. “It’s important.” 

Garland narrowed his eyes at him and cut his head for Duke to follow him and led him to the nearest interrogation room. “I’m gonna guess Christmas didn’t come early and you’re not here to turn yourself in,” he said once they were inside. 

“No, nothing like that,” Duke rolled his eyes, declining to sit. He didn’t plan to be here long and these rooms gave him the creeps. He knew that Nathan could just as easily be listening outside, but he didn’t plan to say too much anyway. “There’s someone who needs a meeting with you. Urgently. About the troubles.” 

“Then have them come in,” Garland said as though it should be obvious. 

“They can’t. They can’t be seen.”

“A fugitive?” Garland asked suspiciously. 

Duke couldn’t help but roll his eyes again. “If that were the case then do you really think they’d be seeking out the chief of police?” 

“If it were a trap? Sure.”

“It’s not. Look, you know me and yeah, I’m not always on the right side of the law, but I don’t go around setting up hits on cops. And I definitely wouldn’t walk into the police station in broad daylight to do it even if I were,” Duke pointed out. 

Garland considered that for a moment before nodding in acceptance. “Fair enough. But if it’s about the troubles, Nathan and Parker can handle it.”

“No, they can’t. It has to be you,” Duke told him. “Believe me, I don’t like it either. I would much rather deal with them.”

Garland could believe that, which was the only reason he was considering this insanity. “Fine. But I swear if this is a trick of some sort I’ll have you in a cell so fast your head will spin.”

“It’s not a trick,” Duke assured him. 

“When and where?” Garland asked. 

“Can you be at my boat at the Gull in two hours?” he asked, getting a nod from Garland so he left. He drove back to the Gull, grabbed the Rouge and went to pick Audrey up. 

Audrey was sitting on the back deck sipping coffee when she saw the Rouge coming into view and she smiled. She double checked her gun and badge were in place. They would be needed for proof, and then went down to meet the boat. Duke held out a hand to help her on. “I’m taking it the chief decided to meet with me?” 

“Yeah, and it was not easy convincing him let me tell you,” Duke huffed. 

“I know, but I appreciate it, Duke,” Audrey said sincerely. 

Duke’s lips twitched in an almost smile before he leaned down for a soft kiss. He’d decided that he was going to give this a try. With her at least. He hadn’t decided anything about the other version of Audrey and had a lot more questions before he could even begin to decide. “He’ll be at the Gull in a little over an hour and meet us on the boat,” he told her. “You’re welcome to wait inside while we head back.” 

She nodded and headed into the state room as he went up the ladder to get her moving again. Once they were tied back off at the Gull, he joined her. “So what else can you tell me about the future?” he asked curiously. 

“Why don’t we wait on that subject until after I meet with the chief? You’ll probably get a lot of questions answered during that conversation,” Audrey suggested. 

“Good enough,” Duke nodded and conversation changed to lighter subjects while they waited. 

Garland got to the boat and hesitated a moment before stepping on board. Nathan, Audrey, and about half a dozen officers were right inside the restaurant waiting for his signal and the coast guard was on standby in case they tried to take him out to sea. He may be willing to indulge this, but he was no idiot. “Crocker!” he called once he stepped on board. 

“Back here,” Duke told him, appearing in the doorway. When Garland looked at him suspiciously Duke reminded him, “She can’t be seen.” 

Garland had one hand on his gun as he nodded and followed Duke inside. When he saw who was sitting here, the gun left his hip and pointed at her which prompted Duke’s gun to follow, pointed at the chief. Garland glanced at Duke for a moment, not nearly as worried about him as he was whatever was impersonating Parker. “Son, I don’t know who that is, but it’s not Parker,” he tried to reason with the pirate. 

“Duke, put your gun away. He won’t shoot me,” Audrey said calmly. 

“The hell I won’t. Who are you and what do you want?” Garland asked. 

Audrey moved slowly over to Duke and gently pressed his gun down as she answered. “Currently I’m Audrey Parker with a bit of Lexi DeWitt. I used to be Lucy Ripley and Sarah Vernon, and probably a lot of others. I’m from the future and if you’ll put your gun down and let me, I’ll prove it.”

Garland narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Knowing about the past lives was something, but it didn’t necessarily mean anything. “How far in the future?” 

“Almost two years,” she told him. 

“That’s impossible. It’s only a little over a year before…”

“The barn. I know. That’s why I came back,” she told him. “When I went into the barn, someone else objected strongly. He destroyed the barn and the troubles never went away and got so much worse.” 

Garland lowered his gun slowly, but didn’t put it away. “You said something about proof?” 

Audrey nodded and reached slowly for her gun, causing him to raise his again, but she just continued and gently set it on the table and slid it towards him followed by her badge. “Now the current Audrey should still be using the FBI issued gun, but this one is HPD issue. If you check the serial number, You’ll find that you have a gun at the station with the same one. If you check the badge number, you’ll see the same. The only way for two of them to exist in the same time is if one of them came from the future.” 

Garland took the gun, knowing that was the better test. Anyone could make a fake badge, but faking a serial number on a gun took time, talent, and always left traces. He got on the radio and called Nathan. “I need you to run back to the station and check the gun lockup for me. Call me when you get there,” he told him before turning to Duke and Audrey and putting his gun away when he noticed that Duke had done the same. “It’ll take him about ten minutes to get there and then we’ll see about this story of yours. In the meantime, tell me what supposedly happened to the barn?” 

“Well like I said, someone didn’t want me to go. He thought he was in love with me and refused to let me leave. When I went inside, he shot Agent Howard and the whole thing imploded.” 

“Crocker did?” Garland guessed. 

“What? No!” Audrey shook her head profusely. 

“Come on. You think I don’t see the way you two look at each other? I’m a cop you know,” Garland scoffed. 

“Yeah, but Duke actually /does/ love me. Well not this version yet, but the future one did. Enough to know that I could never live with my life coming at the cost of so many. The cost of this entire town. He loved me enough to let me go, despite the fact that it broke his heart to stand there and say goodbye and watch me walk away. He even fought the one trying to stop me to try and prevent what happened.” 

“Who was it that tried to stop you then?” Garland asked, not sure what to think of that whole statement yet so ignoring for the moment. Audrey didn’t want to tell him that until he had the proof to believe her story, but she was saved by his phone ringing. Garland held up a hand to her as he answered. “Yeah I need you to check the standard issue nine mils for a particular serial number one ending in five four eight nine.” There was a long pause and then, “Read me the whole thing.” Garland checked off each number as it was read off before saying, “Okay. Thank you. You can call everyone off. Everything is on the up here and I’m not sure when I’ll be back to the station…yes I’m sure.” 

“So, you believe me now?” Audrey asked once he hung up.

“I don’t have much choice now do I?” Garland said gruffly. 

“Good, then that means I can do this,” she smiled and got up to hug him. “It’s great to see you again.”


	4. Chapter 4

“So who was it that destroyed the barn?” Garland asked again after he hugged her back, refusing to consider what that meant right now. They had more important things to discuss. 

“Nathan,” she told him regretfully. “Since I’m immune to the troubles, he could feel me and got obsessed with the idea.” 

Garland sighed heavily and shook his head. “So I should split him and Parker up then. Have them working together less.”

“No,” Audrey shook her head. “I mean, yeah that might work, but not necessarily. It might just make him cling harder and then we’re in even more trouble. Not to mention that the more things change, the less control we have over the situation.” 

“Then what’s your plan to stop it?” Garland asked. 

“Keep him from being there by any means necessary. Even if it means locking him up somewhere or sedating him or even, as a last resort only, disabling him somehow,” she explained. 

Garland nodded curtly. “We’ll make sure it happens. Why come back so far then? Or was that an accident? How did you get back anyway?” 

“I got back via trouble. There’s a troubled person who had a habit of zapping people through time when he got scared or nervous. I helped him control it and he sent me back here. I actually intended to get here the same time the other me did about four months ago, but we missed and I just got here yesterday.”

“Why so far if you don’t want to make changes?” Garland asked curiously and Duke was just as interested in that answer. 

“I do want to make changes, but minor ones. I figured if I was going back anyway, I might as well try to mitigate as much of the damage that was done as possible and save a few more lives while I was at it.” 

“So you want to just pull strings rather than be a bulldozer,” Duke guessed. 

“Exactly,” Audrey nodded. 

“Which is what you need me for I’m guessing,” Garland realized. “You can hardly walk around in public when there’s two of you, so you need me to pass information back and forth and pull those strings for you.” 

“You and Duke, yeah,” Audrey nodded. “He works from one side and you from the other.” 

“If you’re from the future, you have to know about the Crockers…” Garland said incredulously. 

“Duke, can you give us a few minutes?” Audrey cut him off. 

Duke huffed and said, “One of those things you can’t tell me until the right time?” he was more than a little irritated about something apparently about his family being kept from him, but he would save that argument for later. 

“Yeah. Please?” she said hopefully. 

“Fine. I’ll be up on deck,” he grumbled and headed out. 

“You’re not telling him?” Garland asked with a raised eyebrow once they were alone and the hatch was closed. 

“Not until he activates it on his own. Otherwise he might try to prevent it.”

“You /want/ him to activate it?” Garland asked disbelievingly.

“Want? No. Need? Yes,” Audrey sighed. “Are you familiar with the organ stealing trouble?” 

Garland shuddered and nodded. “Okay, I get that, but do you realize what this curse turns Crockers into?” 

“Yeah. I do. But what /you/ don’t realize is how strong Duke is. I’ve seen him bear burdens that no human being should be able to bear. He never fell to the curse. He fought it every step of the way and /won/. He doesn’t let anything control him. Ever,” she explained. 

“What kind of burdens?” Garland asked, wondering if he should reevaluate his opinion of Duke. 

“If I tell you this, it never goes any farther. For any reason. His future self forbade me from even telling him this,” she told him. She didn’t like the idea of spilling this secret, but if it got Garland to understand that Duke wasn’t an enemy it would be worth it. When Garland nodded curtly, she took a deep breath. “Duke’s brother came to town at one point and was manipulated into activating his curse. Wade /did/ fall to it. Was killing people left and right. Duke tried to stop him. To help him. To teach him to fight it, but Wade didn’t want to. Duke stood between him and a troubled girl he was trying to kill. When it came down to it…Duke did what he had to do…and it tore him apart, but he picked himself up and kept fighting. Kept helping people. Not even /that/ made him fall.” 

Garland let out a heavy breath, seeing her point. Only two type of men could manage to kill their own brother and keep going. True monsters who wouldn’t have felt it at all and someone stronger than he could ever be. “So you and a Crocker huh? I’m sure generations of Crockers are turning in their graves and Howard would be having a heart attack,” Garland chuckled. 

Audrey laughed and nodded. “Anything else you want to say about the Crocker curse before I get Duke back in here?” When Garland shook his head she went and opened the hatch and called for Duke. Once he was back, they all sat down. 

“So, tell me more about what happened when the barn was destroyed. You said you were inside and something about a Lexi?” Garland asked. 

“Yeah, when Nathan shot Howard the barn started to implode, but time is weird in there so it took a while. Duke dove in after me once it was clear that it was going down to try and get me out first, but he got spit out six months later in Boston and said it only felt like a few seconds to him. It was another week here on Earth before they managed to get me out and I had been in the process of being overwritten to be Lexi DeWitt when it happened so I still have a little bit of her in me too along with all her memories that they implanted, but Audrey is still the dominant personality. Unfortunately, when they got me out, they also let out some ‘great evil’ that we didn’t know much about. Just that it was becoming active. Escalating things. There’s apparently some Mi'kmaq prophecy about it that was coming true. That’s when we knew that there was no fixing things then and the only chance we had was to stop it in the past.” 

“Wait, I jumped in after you?” Duke asked. “I thought you said I let you go.”

“You did. When there was a purpose. When I /needed/ to go. Once the barn was dying though, the game changed. I would die with it and the troubles would never end so it didn’t matter anymore,” she told him, leaning against his side and his arm instinctively moved around her, keeping their audience in mind though. 

“Okay, so how is the barn going to work with two of you here?” Garland had to ask. 

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Which is another thing I need you for. To find that out from Howard. Preferably without letting on about the time travel and there being two of me.” 

Garland nodded slowly as he turned that over in his mind. “Any suggestions on how I do that?” He was sure he could figure something out on his own, but she’d clearly had more time to consider it than he did so he would take anything she had under advisement.

“Not really,” she admitted. “But future Duke and I discussed a few things that we’re not sure about that might give you an opening. For example, we know that my energy is needed to fuel the barn, but if taking my energy away from here is an aspect of it…then my staying could make the whole thing pointless.” 

“I can see that,” Garland said thoughtfully. “I’m guessing you’re wanting to stay then?” he asked nervously. 

“If I can. If it won’t come at the cost of the entire town. But if I need to go, I won’t hesitate. And neither will the other version of me.”

“Then why aren’t we telling her all this?” Duke asked. 

“Because she’s not ready to know,” Audrey sighed. “And this past version of me would slap me silly for that, but I get it now,” she looked at Garland. “Why you and Vince and Dave played all the games with the puzzle pieces and making me run in circles.” 

“Plus we don’t want to risk changing too much and the more people in on the secret the more changes are inevitable,” Garland reminded Duke. 

“That too,” Audrey nodded. “And you can’t wait too long to talk to Howard. The next time he contacts you, try and get what you can.”

“Because I’ll be dead soon,” Garland guessed, knowing he was right when Audrey winced. 

“We’re going to try and prevent that, but if we can’t…” she sighed. 

“Prevent it how?” Garland asked. 

“First, you and Nathan need to find time to sit down and have a real talk. You need to explain why you’ve always been so hard on him. Why you’ve pushed him so hard. That you needed to get him ready for all this. Make him strong enough to handle it.”

“Apparently I failed at that,” Garland sighed ruefully. 

“I think that what happened to you contributed a lot to what happened with the barn,” Audrey said sadly. “See, another thing you need to tell him is about his biological father. When he found out on his own, he was beyond pissed and you two had a huge blowup fight over it. You’d already been having trouble holding yourself together, if you know what I mean, and that was the last straw and you shattered. He always blamed himself for it and I think that’s part of why he couldn’t let me go. Couldn’t lose another person that he could save.” 

Garland nodded slowly at the description of how he died. “I have been having more trouble keeping myself together lately it’s true. Whenever I get upset…”

“The cracks open,” Audrey nodded in understanding. 

“Wait, that’s you?” Duke asked incredulously. He’d almost wrecked his truck more than once due to those cracks appearing out of nowhere. He considered for a moment before asking, “Have you tried meditation?” 

“Hippie dippie crap,” Garland scoffed. 

“Maybe so, but Duke has a point. It could definitely help,” Audrey told him before turning to Duke. “Would you be willing to teach him?” 

Duke groaned and leaned his head back against the wall. “Couldn’t you do it?” 

“First of all, I’m not planning to leave the safehouse that often and it’s not the kind of thing you can teach over the phone very well. Second of all, I can’t do it either. You never got around to teaching me.”

Duke huffed and said, “Fine. I’m willing to teach him if he’s willing to learn.” 

“You really think it’ll help?” Garland asked Audrey hesitantly. He’d long trusted versions of her when it came to helping with the troubles, and given that Lucy had suggested the same thing last time around and he’d dismissed it then, he was a little more willing to listen now. When she nodded, he told Duke, “Fine. You can teach me.” He turned back to Audrey. “I do hope you have a backup plan for if I don’t survive though.” 

“I do. Vince,” she told him. 

“He’s going to be even more wary of working with a Crocker than I am,” Garland warned her. “You know who he is and what he does correct?” 

“Yeah, I know,” Audrey nodded. “Which is why I have a letter from him to himself explaining things if it’s needed. Getting info from inside the PD will be more difficult then, but we have to work with what’s available.” 

“Okay so back to the plan here,” Garland said. “You want me to keep you updated on the cases we’re working on and then you can give me info on how to solve it that I can leak to Nathan and your other self and subtly point them in the right direction to make things not so bad.” 

“Exactly,” she nodded. “And I’ll be doing the same for Duke with the cases he gets involved in, which is a lot. Especially later on.” 

“And you’ve got a way for me to contact you?” Garland asked pointedly. 

“Right. Almost forgot,” Duke said getting up and moving to one of his cabinets and pulling out the burner cell. “Here you go. It’s all set up and untraceable. I’ve got my number programmed in already but you’ll have to get his.” 

“Thank you, Duke,” she said gratefully as she opened it up and got the number from it, giving it to Garland and getting his number in return. 

“Anything else I need to know right now?” Garland asked, getting a shake of Audrey’s head. “Then I need to get back to work and you need to get back to lying low.” He didn’t dispute not knowing where her safehouse was. The less he knew the less he could give up accidentally. Not to mention that if it was Crocker’s safehouse the chances of him being let in on that secret were slim to none anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

Once he left, Duke dropped a kiss on Audrey’s lips as he got up to untie the Rouge and get her moving back towards the safehouse. When they got there, she invited him in, having a lot more personal things to warn him about and hoping for a little something more too. Before any of that though, they had stuff to bring in. Duke set her working on the groceries while he started fiddling with boxes and wiring. “What’s all that?” she asked curiously as she put the groceries away. 

“An off the grid wifi generator,” he told her. He’d spent half the night tracking one down. “I figured it would get pretty boring here. I also have a computer here and a television along with a bootleg cable setup.” He was never much for television or internet or anything, and got the feeling that she wasn’t either, but with nothing else to do and being trapped here all the time. 

“Thank you. I didn’t even think of that yet, but yeah. I probably will get pretty bored,” she said gratefully. Once everything was hooked up and all the groceries were away, Duke went to start cooking a late lunch or early dinner, guessing that she wasn’t much of a cook. She sat at the table next to him and said, “So there are a few things coming up in the next few months that you should be forewarned about and figure out how to handle.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“First is my birthday,” she sighed. “What happened last time was that you helped set up a surprise party for me out on Carpenter’s knot which turned out to be a trap set by a chameleon who could make himself into other people, killing them in the process.” 

“So don’t take the party to the knot?” Duke guessed but had an idea it wouldn’t be that simple. 

“I’m not so sure about that,” Audrey said hesitantly. “See, the chameleon is having trouble holding his form and if he can’t get someone out there, then he’s probably going to end up here and then who knows what trouble he can cause.”

“Then you’re thinking we reverse the trap?” 

“Something like that, yeah. No one died until close to the end, which we should be able to prevent. Main thing you need to know is that he’ll be me. When we all split up to find our rooms he’ll take me out from behind. Once we get back to the party, he’ll be in my place. But since I’m immune to the troubles, I don’t die when he takes me over,” she explained. 

“Okay, then I’ll out him once we get back to the party.”

“And then come find the real me. I’ll be locked in a trunk in the basement. By the time you found me last time I had almost suffocated so as long as you find me quicker this time it’ll be okay.”

“Okay, anything else with that incident?” Duke asked curiously. 

“I would make sure you have a schedule for the pickup boat returning. Last time you were just planning to call when we were ready but the lines got cut and you spent hours fixing a radio to call out on.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Why didn’t I just take the Rouge?” Duke asked confused. 

“I’m not sure. I never asked,” she shrugged. “Maybe that was one of the conditions he made for the place to be used? Claiming that it would draw attention if there were boats docked there?”

Duke nodded thoughtfully, mentally putting his own twists on the plan before saying. “You said a few things?” 

“Yeah, probably a month or two after that your boat was hijacked…”

“Please tell me we’re actually planning to prevent that one?” Duke asked hopefully. 

“I’ll leave that one up to you,” Audrey told him. “It was a pretty important moment for our friendship, but you ended up getting beat up pretty bad and the boat took some damage so it’s up to you whether it would be worth it.” 

“How was it important for our friendship?” Duke had to ask before he decided. 

“Well, it started with a poker night that I was invited to and we had a lot of fun before all hell broke loose. Agent Howard had shown up to grill me and we ended up locked in the stateroom while you and Julia Carr were locked in the hold…”

“Julia Carr? I haven’t seen her in forever,” Duke said wistfully. 

“Yeah, she comes back to town in time for my birthday party. She pretty much stopped speaking to you after the boat incident though. Got very judgy and all.”

“I’m not really too worried about that,” Duke shrugged. It wasn’t like they were friends per se and now that he was forewarned he wouldn’t let her get too close. Even if he did decide to avoid this incident there would probably be something else at some point that would get her judgment going. “You were saying about it being important for our friendship?”

“Yeah, well, Howard was grilling me about you forcing me to defend you and make some realizations about you. It also helped me to see just how well I really did know you when I was able to find the secret escape hatch behind the bookshelf. Then there was the fact that I saved you from the torture and you trusted me enough to follow my insane plan to take down the guys and then you saved us all from the boat sinking. It was a big bonding event for us.”

“But if I let it happen, I’ll end up being tortured and have to fix my boat,” Duke sighed. 

“Not necessarily on fixing the boat. The crack in the hull was caused by the chief getting worried about me. This time he’ll know in advance that I’ll be okay and maybe the meditation lessons might have helped enough by then to keep that part from happening,” Audrey told him. 

Duke nodded in understanding, turning that one over in his head too as he set the food on the table. He wasn’t sure if he would let it happen or not yet. A little torture was a small price to pay to get closer to Audrey, but if he had this version of Audrey anyway…he would figure that part out later. He apparently had a few months. “Anything else?” 

“Well…not really something that can be handled per se as something you need to be warned about. Your wife will be coming to town,” she told him, wincing when his fork clattered to his plate as he dropped it. 

“Excuse me?” he asked, completely bowled over by that. “Evi? Here? In Haven? Why?” He was more than a little glad that she’d thought to warn him at least. 

“That’s…difficult to explain. Part of it is linked to things I can’t tell you yet, and I’m sure you know what I mean when I say that the rest is…complicated. You never knew when she was telling the truth or running some kind of con or…”

“Yeah. That sounds like Evi,” Duke huffed. “Is getting her out of town an option?” Duke asked hopefully. 

“You tried and failed last time, but you’re welcome to try again, and I’ll help however I can,” she promised. “It tore you apart when she died and I would hate to see you go through that again.” 

Duke clenched his teeth at the thought. While part of him hated her with a passion there was still a part of him that loved her and couldn’t handle the thought of seeing her die. “Hopefully, we’ll succeed this time,” he managed to say after a long silence. “Do you know about our history?” he asked her, hoping that he wouldn’t need to go into the story. 

“Yeah, I do,” she assured him. “Future you told me about it. The important parts anyway. Including how she managed to get you roped in and wrapped around her finger when she came to town.” She wanted him to be on his guard for that.

“Well at least that part won’t happen this time,” he sighed with relief. Since he was actually going to try and make things work with this version of Audrey, he would never fall for Evi’s games. He wasn’t that kind of guy and he could already tell that what he would feel for Audrey would far eclipse anything he ever felt for Evi and by the time that came up a few months from now, he might even be ready to admit it. 

After they ate, it was Duke’s turn to sit at the table as Audrey worked to clean up and conversation stayed light. There were a few things that Duke still wanted to ask about, but he wanted to wait until they were sitting more comfortably. Instead they talked about simple things, shared a few small stories from their pasts, and just got to know each other a little better. Well, he got to know her. She knew him pretty well already.


	6. Chapter 6

Once they had moved to the couch, she curled up to his side and he wrapped his arms comfortably around her, resting his head on hers that was tucked into his shoulder. “I’m curious…how long were we together before you came back?” he asked. 

“That’s a difficult question to answer,” she chuckled. “When we were saying goodbye before I went into the barn, you decided you didn’t want me to go without knowing how you felt which was when you told me that you loved me. I told you that I loved you too, but that was really all we had time for before I had to go. The meteors were already falling and doing a lot of damage. Then there was the six months slash few seconds in the barn where we never even saw each other until you managed to get me out, so I guess that would be when we /actually/ got together so about two weeks I guess.” 

“That’s all?” he asked surprised. “You seem pretty comfortable with me for us having only been together for two weeks.” 

“Well we were always pretty close even before that. After the boat incident when I decided to stay, you remodeled the upstairs of the Gull into an apartment for me. You brought me morning coffee at least a few times a week which we would share and chat until I had to go to work. We hung out together pretty often and neither of us really shied away from physical contact. Being with you was just always so…easy,” she shrugged. 

“Yeah, I can see that,” he chuckled, holding her tighter for a moment as he pressed a kiss to her head. It definitely was for him even now. That was why he wondered how much of that was just feeding off her comfort with it, but if it had always been so easy for them once they loosened up around each other, that meant a lot. “So the boat incident you mentioned…that was when you decided to stay? Because of it?” 

“Partially because of it, yeah. Mostly it was because Agent Howard pushed me into it by trying to force me to leave Haven, but it helped that the incident proved that I could find a home here. That I had friends and people I could count on and who counted on me, you know what I mean?” 

“Yeah. I do,” he said softly. That decided him. He was definitely going to let the boat incident happen now. He wasn’t going to take that away from either version of her, but that brought up another question. “What if the changes we make here change you?” 

“They won’t,” she shook her head. “I’m immune to that aspect of the troubles. We’ve had to deal with that before. When other people were zapped through time and making changes, I wasn’t affected at all which was the only way we knew that the changes were being made in the first place.” 

“Okay, good,” he sighed in relief. He would hate to make a mistake with the current Audrey that would lose him this right here. She would always remember the original timeline no matter how much was changed and that made him much more comfortable with interacting with her other self. That brought up another subject though. “You know I can’t be here all the time right?” He hoped that she realized that. 

“I know,” she sighed sadly moving to press a kiss to his jaw. “You have to be visible. Be out there helping. Be available. Not hiding away here.” 

“That and the more time I spend here the more risky it is being found,” he pointed out as he ran a hand through her hair. He hesitated a moment before whispering, “I wish I could stay here all the time.” 

“Me too,” she smiled. “But I figure once a week to bring me groceries and supplies will be safe?” 

“Yeah. I can do that,” he agreed. “And…maybe even…stay overnight those nights?” he asked tentatively. 

“I would love that,” she said happily. She already missed sleeping in his arms despite how short a time she had it. She refrained from saying so though. She didn’t want to push too hard and scare him off. It had been necessary when trying to convince him that she was in this for the long haul and wouldn’t abandon him or turn on him, but now it was just a matter of letting things grow organically and at his pace. 

“Starting tonight?” he asked hopefully, looking down at her and when he got a nod, he leaned down for a long slow kiss which she responded to eagerly and it wasn’t long before they were moving to the bedroom. With the early dinner, that left them plenty of time to explore each other, him for the first time, before they finally succumbed to sleep. 

When Audrey woke up the next morning, she found that Duke was already awake, but he hadn’t left the bed yet and she sighed happily and pressed a kiss to his chest as she murmured, “G’morning.” 

“And a very good morning it is,” Duke grinned before leaning down for a real kiss which then turned into morning sex before they finally pulled themselves out of bed and Duke went to make breakfast while Audrey jumped in the shower. When she came out, she still had a towel wrapped around her as she moved up behind Duke at the stove and wrapped her arms around him, pressing a kiss between his shoulder blades and he leaned back into her embrace, running his free hand over her arms. “Breakfast is almost ready,” he told her. “At least I know you’ll eat it this time,” he teased, referencing their first meeting when she’d just questioned him and taken off. 

She chuckled and gave him one more squeeze before moving away, heading back to the bedroom to throw some clothes on as she said, “I don’t think I’ve thanked you yet in this time for saving my life that night, so…thank you.” 

“It was my pleasure,” he smirked. “Really.” 

She laughed and threw her towel at him through the open door. “I’m sure it was.” 

“I have to say it is much better when I’m allowed to touch though,” he said suggestively as he pulled her into a lingering kiss when she walked out of the room. 

“It very much is,” she agreed, running her hands down his bare chest before they sat down to eat. 

After breakfast it was time for him to go and she walked with him out to the Rouge as he told her, “We’ll talk this week and you can let me know what you need as far as groceries or anything else since I just got the basics this time.” 

“I’ll make sure to get you a list,” she told him and he pulled her into a slow sweet kiss before he got in the boat and finished untying it. She stood there on the dock and watched the Cape Rouge as long as she could before heading back inside to clean up from breakfast and find something to do with her day. 

She spent a little time going through the Haven Herald website to refresh her memory on what was going on around this time, but then she found herself more than a little bored. She flipped through the television for a little while, but that didn’t help either. She’d never been much for watching tv and there weren’t that many movies she liked either. She decided to ask Duke for a dvd player and add a list of movies to her next shipment, but that didn’t help her right now. Duke didn’t even have any books here. That led her to looking for websites to read books online for free. There wasn’t a very good selection, but it kept her occupied for the rest of the day. 

She had just finished dinner when her phone rang, and it only took a glance to see that it was Duke, so she left the dishes for now and went to curl up on the couch under her blanket as she answered. “Hey you,” she said with a grin. 

“Hey yourself,” he chuckled. “So I have to ask…do you have some kind of crazy mind control voodoo trouble that you haven’t mentioned?” 

“No, why?” she asked amusedly. 

“Just wondering how you managed to get me to agree to teach Garland freaking Wuornos how to meditate,” he said wryly. 

Audrey laughed and shifted so she was more comfortable, pulling the blanket tighter around her. “Didn’t go well I take it?” 

“That’s an understatement,” Duke huffed. “It started with complaints about the incense and just got worse from there.” 

“I’ll try and talk to him, see if I can get him to ease up a bit,” she promised. 

“I would very much appreciate that,” Duke sighed with relief. “So how was your day?” 

“Boring,” she told him. “But it’s looking up now.” 

“That’s good,” he grinned. “Not used to not running around saving the world all the time are you officer Parker?” he teased. 

“No, I’m really not,” she admitted. “Down time isn’t something I’ve ever had much of. I tried to watch a little tv, but I’ve never really been into it, so it didn’t work very well. I did want to ask if it wouldn’t be too much trouble to grab a dvd player and I’ll give you a list of movies?” 

“No trouble at all,” he assured her. “I should have thought of the dvd player already, but then I don’t know what movies you like so…”

“No, I know. This trip was just the necessities and we didn’t have time for a full list or anything. Just the fact that you thought about wifi and cable was nice.” 

“Okay, I got a pad and pencil. What movies do you want?” he asked and she started rattling off a list of about twenty movies. “That’s it?” he asked when she was done. “It’s going to be a long year,” he reminded her. 

“That’s it for now. I’m sure I’ll think of more eventually,” she assured him. “I’ll probably read more anyway. I found a website that has free books so it’s just a matter of getting used to reading on the computer. Other than a disastrous meditation lesson, how was your day?” They talked for a little more than an hour before calling it a night and they were both in much better moods than they had been before the call.


	7. Chapter 7

Audrey didn’t want to wait until the chief called her since she didn’t know how long it would be until the next trouble so she waited until the time he usually took his lunch to call him and he answered with his trademark gruff, “What?” 

“Do you have a minute to talk? Not about anything crucial,” she told him, not wanting to start the conversation off on the wrong foot if she was taking him away from anything important. 

“Sure, what’s wrong?” he asked, having just been sitting down to lunch anyway. 

“Well…I have a scenario to run by you,” she started, having considered long and hard the best way to do this. “Let’s say that someone had a need to learn how to be a cop. That this knowledge could save their life. Now you don’t like this person much, but you agree to teach them anyway because you don’t really want them to die…” she paused to let that sink in. 

“I’m following you,” Garland told her to hurry the point. 

“So you’re trying to teach them, but they criticize and question every step of the process and not in a very nice way either. How is that going to make you feel?”

“This is about Crocker isn’t it,” Garland huffed. 

“Being a cop is your thing. It’s what you do best. Meditation is his. He knows what he’s doing and is trying to help you save your life,” she got to the blunt part hoping that he got the point. 

“It’s just all so…out there,” Garland sighed, getting her point, but not really sure where to start. The part about Crocker not liking him wasn’t surprising but the way she put like he was only trying to do him a favor to help save his life hit him hard. 

“I know. And it’s not in your nature so it’s going to be difficult. You’re just going to have to trust that he knows this stuff. And if something in particular just isn’t working for you, tell him that. Nicely. And I’m sure he’d be willing to find an alternative,” she assured him. 

“I’ll try,” Garland agreed. “That all you needed?” 

“That’s it, yeah. I’ll let you get back to work now. Or lunch. Whichever,” she chuckled. 

Audrey hated that she was almost hoping for a trouble to crop up. Something to alleviate her boredom, but she knew that at this time the troubles didn’t exactly crop up on a daily or even weekly basis yet so it would probably be a while. Especially if they had just finished handling one before she got here. She waited until she finished dinner that night and was snuggled into her blanket on the couch before she called Duke. He’d been the one to call last night, so it was her turn. When he didn’t answer she just set her phone aside, sure that he would call her back when he could, and pulled her computer over to find something to read while she waited. 

It was almost an hour later before her phone rang and she answered with a bright smile. “Sorry I missed your call. I was busy. It wasn’t an emergency was it?” he asked worriedly. 

“No, it’s fine. We should probably have some kind of signal for emergencies though,” she realized. 

“How about if it’s an emergency you just keep calling until I answer?” he suggested. 

“That works,” she chuckled. “Out of curiosity, what do you have my contact saved under in your phone?” She wanted to make sure it wasn’t something that would draw too much attention if someone else saw it. 

“Fay,” he told her. “It’s a more namelike version of the letters F and A for future Audrey.” 

“Smart,” she chuckled, realizing that she’d been worried about nothing. 

“I /do/ know how subterfuge works you know,” he pointed out amusedly. 

“Yeah you’ve told me quite a few stories,” she laughed. “Do you have time to talk now?” 

“I’m all yours,” he told her, stretching out in his chair on the deck of the boat watching the sunset. 

“So I talked to the chief today,” she told him. 

“I noticed. He was a little more agreeable today. Not a lot mind you, but I don’t think he has a lower gruffness setting,” Duke chuckled. “How did you manage it?” 

“Just pointed out how he would feel if he had to teach you how to be a cop to save your life and you nit-picked everything. Cop is his thing. Meditation is yours,” she shrugged. 

“Yeah, I don’t think pointing that out would have worked for me.”

“No, probably not,” she admitted amusedly, and the conversation flowed as they talked about their days. The rest of the week continued the same way with her spending most of the day bored out of her mind and then spending an hour or so after dinner on the phone with Duke. She was more than looking forward to Saturday and when it rolled around she was bouncing with excitement the entire morning. Duke was due to arrive a little before lunch and he would do the cooking while she got all the groceries unloaded and put away. 

She saw the Cape Rouge coming long before it got there, more than familiar enough to pick it out from a distance and was waiting at the end of the dock as she sidled in, grabbing the rope Duke tossed her and looping it around the post, leaving the knot for Duke. Once the boat was tied off, he grabbed her in a searing kiss which she sank into happily, tangling her fingers in his hair until she needed air. “I missed you,” she grinned. 

“Me too,” he replied cheerfully as he hopped back on the boat and started setting bags on the dock. 

“Yeah, but at least you still get to see the other me,” she pointed out amusedly. 

“There is that,” Duke admitted. “But that one I can’t kiss like that.” 

“That’s true. At least not yet anyway.” 

Duke didn’t really know what to say to that so the rest of the unloading and taking everything inside was done in a comfortable silence. He hadn’t decided yet how to handle things with the other Audrey. Friendship absolutely. He’d already started on the apartment above the Gull just so it would be ready when she was. More than that he wasn’t so sure. The fact that it was still the same person made it both easier and harder, as did the fact that they would clearly be okay with it either way. Trying to remember which one he was with at any given time and who knew what would be a royal pain. Then there was the whole preserving the timeline thing where they didn’t get together until much later versus the fact that if they were together then it might help Nathan not to lose it when she left. Adding in the fact that she had very recently stood him up and stomped on his heart, he could be forgiven for being a jumbled mess on that subject. This Audrey though, he wasn’t the slightest bit confused about. She loved him just as much as he was coming to love her. She always considered his feelings and truly enjoyed spending time with him, either in person or on the phone. 

Once they had everything inside, Duke rummaged around for a particular bag before grabbing it and going to start the lunch he’d planned while she started putting everything away, setting the DVD player aside to set up later. It didn’t take long for her to find a few bags of books. “You got me books?” she asked with a bright smile as she pulled them out, looking at each one. “And books that I might like at that?”

“I asked the other version of you for help,” Duke admitted. “I told her I had a friend whose birthday was coming up and that she was a big reader so I asked her to pick out some books that she would find interesting since my friend had similar taste to her.” 

“Smart thinking,” Audrey chuckled, setting them aside on the coffee table and getting back to the groceries. She would find a place for them later. There was a lot of playful bumps and loving touches as they moved around the kitchen and by the time she had all the groceries put away, he was setting lunch on the table. After a nice lunch they went outside to sit on the deck swing and just enjoy the nice day, curled up together and talking right up until dinner. 

After dinner, Duke handed her the bag of movies she’d requested and went to hook up the dvd player as he told her, “Pick the one movie that you most want me to watch.” 

“Just one? That’ll be tough,” she chuckled and started going through them. “Are there any in here that you’ve already seen?” 

“Just the original three Star Wars,” he told her, having seen those with his dad before he died. 

“Okay, then they’re for another time,” she decided before also setting aside the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He’d said one movie and you couldn’t watch one without the others. Finally she settled on The Sixth Sense just as he finished setting up the dvd player and she handed it to him to put on as they curled up on the couch to watch it with plenty of jokes and stolen kisses sprinkled throughout before moving to the bedroom for the rest of the night.


	8. Chapter 8

It was a few days after Duke’s visit when her phone rang around midmorning while she was sitting in the swing with her book. Seeing that it was the chief, she figured that the next trouble had hit. “What’s up chief?” she answered.

“Got dead bodies, killed with some type of long thin blade that we can’t identify, and in places that the blade couldn’t even reach normally like from behind a couch,” he got right to business. 

“Blind guy’s shadow. Taking out grudges,” she remembered. “Can’t remember his name, but his wife died thanks to the medical center scamming patients. Not giving them the meds they were supposed to and all.”

“Okay, I’ll get them pointed in the right direction. How’d it get handled?”

“The guy couldn’t control his shadow so we ended up having to lock him in his pitch black house once we pissed him off enough for his shadow to come after us and we cut the lights,” she said sadly. 

“You don’t have any better ideas?” Garland asked hopefully given that she had a little more experience now. 

“To start, no, but he might benefit from some type of phone therapy to get over his anger issues that might help in the long run,” she shrugged. 

“Good enough. Thanks for the heads up,” he told her. 

“Anytime. It’s what I’m here for. Literally,” she chuckled. She hoped that handling this before Jess ended up in the line of fire might make her more likely to stay in town. For Nathan’s sake. Assuming they got it handled that quickly anyway with the chief’s hints. 

She got another call from him around dinnertime to let her know that they’d got it handled and Mr. Aarons was locked in his dark house, had been referred to a therapist in the know about the troubles and Haven PD was going to be starting an investigation into the medical center’s practices in the morning. She thanked him for the update and got back to her dinner before her daily call with Duke.

The next few weeks were trouble-free and she managed to find a routine that included things to do while she was laying around doing nothing. She even asked Duke to bring her some fishing gear one weekend and teach her how to fish off the end of the dock. Just for something to do to kill time. It wasn’t like it was anywhere near warm enough to swim. She also had Duke teach her to meditate which went much easier than the chief’s meditation lessons which were making progress, but slowly. Duke had at least gotten him to the point where he could practice alone and only meet up weekly to check in and modify anything that wasn’t working. 

The last Saturday in November, when Duke got there for lunch, he told her, “So, next weekend is your birthday weekend. Did you want me to come out here before that or after?” 

She considered for a moment before saying, “After. I want to be able to hear how it went and since my actual birthday is next Monday…”

“Then I’ll come out Monday morning first thing,” he promised. “Now refresh my memory on how this is going to go?” 

She gave him the quick overview before telling him, “Just remember, I never changed into the blue dress that Dave got me.” 

“What if we changed something?” Duke asked worriedly. “I mean, knowing you has probably changed a lot of my interactions with people and that could have snowballed somehow and maybe the chameleon doesn’t grab you after all? Or doesn’t get to you until later?” He knew that he’d been treating her current self differently. Probably anyway. He’d been more relaxed and open with her than he thought he would have been and the conversation and banter that he enjoyed with this version of Audrey came so easily with the other one too. There was no telling how much that could have changed. 

“I doubt that’ll happen. The whole reason he invited us out that weekend was to get to me. Because his current body is failing. And as soon as he mentions that he knew Lucy Ripley, I’ll go looking for him and make it easy. You know Nathan isn’t going to believe without testing me though and since he can’t feel the chameleon any more than he can feel anyone else, that should be all the proof you need,” she assured him. 

“Okay, so I won’t do anything but make the switch known and let the chief and Nate take it from there,” Duke nodded. “Does the chief know about this?” 

“No,” Audrey shook her head. “This one is more than a little personal for him and I don’t want him stressing about it in advance. Besides, when you’re available for it, I’d rather give you the info. That way it makes people trust you a little more and will make it easier for you to make the changes you need to when he can’t. Everyone already trusts him,” she pointed out. 

“I didn’t think of it that way,” Duke nodded as they moved to the couch and he pulled her into his arms. “Now let’s talk presents. What did I give you last time?” He had a pretty good idea what he wanted to give her, but needed the reassurance that it was the right thing. 

“The necklace that Lucy Ripley gave you,” she told him. “But not until after the weekend was over and we got back. That’s also when you told me that you were the boy in the Colorado Kid photo.” 

“Any advice on how I can keep you from eviscerating me for not telling you sooner?” he chuckled. 

“I didn’t get mad last time either. Not for more than a second anyway. You were quick to explain that you didn’t tell me because you didn’t remember anything and had been trying to track down the people in the photo that could tell me more.”

Duke winced. “Yeah, I started doing that, but got a little side-tracked with you and all this.” 

“That’s okay. I’ll just tell you what you found,” she chuckled. “Your old babysitter Vanessa works at Haven High as a counselor. You can take me there to talk to her when school lets out on Tuesday. The photographer in the picture is Morris Crane. I can’t remember his address off the top of my head, but I remember the neighborhood and you should be able to figure it out easily from there.” 

“Okay good,” he said relieved, glad that he didn’t mess anything up already. 

“Oh and our visit is going to trigger Vanessa’s trouble. She can see the last thing a person sees before they die. I’ll tell you more about that after next weekend so you can help her, but don’t let her tell you how you die.” 

“Why not?” Duke asked confused. That seemed like the kind of thing he’d like to know. 

“Because what she told you was so vague and had so many potential killers that it drove you insane and had you jumping at shadows constantly after that. Your future self was the one that told me to tell you not to let her tell you,” she told him. 

“But you know?” he asked, and she nodded. “And if it becomes relevant, you’ll tell me?” 

“Absolutely,” she promised. 

“Good enough then,” he agreed, and the rest of the visit was spent in more fun pursuits and lighter conversation. 

When the birthday party came around the next weekend, future Audrey was on tenterhooks waiting for word. She knew that Duke wouldn’t be able to call her until they got back to the mainland the next day since there was no service out on Carpenter’s Knot, but that didn’t stop her from pacing nervously and she didn’t sleep well that night either. 

Duke was a good enough actor that no one could tell how on edge he was waiting for the other shoe to drop and he even managed a bit of banter with Audrey, including some gentle teasing about her crying. He waited until after the chameleon was found and Garland explained to everyone what it was and he caught the hard look that Garland sent him during the explanation and gave him and almost imperceptible nod back. Yes, he knew what was going on and would fill him in as soon as he could. For the sake of the rest of the people who couldn’t know about his future knowledge, he cornered Audrey for a brief conversation on the way back, but the second that everyone was back in the room, it descended into chaos. 

When Audrey tried to take control, Duke spoke up. “You’re the chameleon,” he told her which prompted her to remove and disassemble both of her guns, pointing out that she didn’t have to tell anyone about the second one. “Nice gesture, but it doesn’t mean anything.” 

“I don’t think that she would do that if she were really the chameleon,” Dave spoke up. 

Garland held up his hands for quiet and looked seriously at Duke. “You’re sure?” 

“Ninety percent,” Duke gave a half shrug, knowing that Garland would get the fact that the other ten percent was because of changes that could have happened at some point. 

“You’re actually trusting him? With this?” Nathan asked his father incredulously. 

“Of course not. Because I’m not the chameleon,” Audrey said with a roll of her eyes only to hit the floor as Garland knocked her out. 

“Tie her up,” Garland told Nathan. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.” He remembered Audrey mentioning that Nathan could feel her touch and was taking a wild guess that he wouldn’t be able to feel the chameleon the same way so this way they could be really sure and eliminate that little bit of doubt that Duke had. 

He caught the look on Nathan’s face as he moved her and that was enough for him to be sure even before Nathan said, “You were right. She’s the chameleon,” with a confused look at Duke. Nathan being convinced was enough to convince everyone else and the room descended into chaos again as everyone had an opinion on what to do.


	9. Chapter 9

Garland pulled his gun and glanced at Duke getting a nod so he shot the chameleon before anyone else could come to a conclusion. “What?” he asked as everyone spun to look at him. “I told you how insidious these things are.”

“It could have told us what it did with Audrey,” Nathan protested. 

“And we would have no way of knowing if it was even telling the truth. We’ll split up and search,” Garland told him. “Crocker you’re with me where I can keep an eye on you. Everyone else pair up.” 

“We’ll start in the basement,” Duke suggested, getting a nod from Garland. 

As soon as they were out of earshot of anyone else, Garland told him, “I hope you actually know where she is and I didn’t just kill our only lead.” 

“I don’t know exactly which room, but I know the area. And I know that it took until tomorrow to get her out last time and she was just starting to run out of air so we have plenty of time,” Duke assured him. 

“You knew that this whole party was a setup for the chameleon and you let it happen?” Garland asked suspiciously as he followed Duke. 

“Audrey…future Audrey I mean…pointed out that the reason he brought us here is because he was having trouble holding his form and needed a new host. If we hadn’t come, it would have gone to the mainland looking and we would have lost complete control of the situation,” Duke explained. 

“Good point. But why didn’t she tell me?” he asked curiously. 

“Two reasons. One, she said this was one personal for you and she didn’t want you stressing out over it in advance. Two, she wants me to be a little more trusted so that I can pull my strings better when needed.” 

“Also a good point,” Garland nodded. “That one does have her head on straight doesn’t she,” he said proudly. He’d been finding it easier and easier to trust Duke lately. Especially since some things that he’d let slip during their meditation sessions that he’d put some pieces together and he was seeing more and more of what Parker saw. Someone who cared about protecting people and that the whole selfish act was just a façade. It didn’t make him any less a criminal and if he caught him at anything illegal he wouldn’t hesitate to arrest him, but he wasn’t digging anymore either. It also helped with the trust thing that the future Parker was the one calling the shots. 

It only took them about twenty minutes to find the trunk that Audrey had described to Duke and get it open. Waking her up took a little more doing, but they finally managed and got her back upstairs, yelling for everyone else that they’d found her. Nathan immediately walked up to Duke and asked, “How did you know?” 

“Know what?” Audrey asked confused, looking between him and Duke. 

“You talked to her for all of five minutes, if that, and that was all it took for you to be that sure that it wasn’t really her,” Nathan said as much for her benefit as Duke’s. 

“I know Audrey,” Duke shrugged. “I knew that she would be the best person to handle the crisis so I figured ruling her out first was a good idea, so I went fishing.” 

“Duke…thank you,” Audrey said genuinely as she hugged him. 

Duke smiled brightly and immediately hugged her back. “You know, I’m keeping a tally of how many times I’ve saved your life,” he teased, catching the suspicious look from Nathan, but not caring much. 

She pulled back and smacked his arm with a laugh. “Then I’ll just have to start doing the same thing,” she joked. 

“How about a wager then? Whoever’s behind in a year has to buy the winner dinner?” Duke smirked. That would be close enough to when they figured things out last time that it might end up being more than dinner and he could live with that. 

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Audrey grinned. 

Nathan was just about to interrupt their banter when Eleanor spoke up loud enough for the whole room to hear. “Since the drama is over, lets get back to the party huh?” 

“Yeah, I think I’ll just hang over here,” Duke gestured to the corner before making his way there to watch the party in action as Nathan and Audrey headed that way. He was very much not a party person.

Once the presents were done…all but Duke’s…and Dave promised Audrey a new present now that the dress was covered in the chameleon’s blood, the party broke up into mingling over food and Nathan cornered his father. “What’s the deal with you and Duke?” he asked, trying to get to the bottom of this. 

“What do you mean?” Garland brushed off the question. 

Nathan wasn’t about to just let it go though. “You trusted him when he said that Audrey was the chameleon. You didn’t even question it.”

“Trust is a pretty strong word. I wouldn’t trust Crocker as far as I could throw him. But I know that he and Parker are friends, saw him talking to her, and he wouldn’t have put her on the spot like that if he wasn’t sure,” Garland shrugged. “It’s about being able to read the situation and recognize who might have information that you don’t without letting personal grudges get in the way.” 

Nathan narrowed his eyes as he considered both the words and the tone. It was the same kind of lesson that his father had always tried to give him, but it wasn’t done in the same condescending tone that he usually had. In fact, he’d been a lot less condescending overall for the last month or two. “I get it,” Nathan nodded neutrally, accepting the lesson and seeing his point. 

“Good,” Garland said, patting his son on the shoulder. Maybe it was about time that they have that conversation that Parker had suggested. He’d been trying to loosen Nathan up, and the easy way he accepted the criticism gave him hope that he might actually be able to get somewhere now. 

“It doesn’t bother you that she’s friends with a known criminal?” Nathan asked curiously. 

“Not my business. She gets dirty, it becomes my business, but until or unless that happens…”

“She wouldn’t,” Nathan was quick to say. 

“I’m sure you’re right. But that’s no reason to let our guards down either,” he told him. He knew that there was no way that Parker would get dirty, but the lesson was still a good one. Never let trust blind you. He might just be running out of time to impart those lessons and since Nathan was clearly in a receptive mood, he was going to get across what he could. “Why don’t we have dinner tomorrow night when we get back to the mainland? It’s been too long.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Nathan agreed. It really had been a while. His father hadn’t reached out like this in as long as Nathan could remember, but maybe he’d been looking for some sign from Nathan too. The new attitude lately was enough of an olive branch for Nathan to at least accept it and see what happened. 

Duke was sitting in the corner watching the party when Julia came over. “If I didn’t know better I’d think you were avoiding me,” she joked. 

“More like avoiding the party,” he deflected. Knowing that she would bail on him at the slightest hint into the darker side of his life made him not quite so willing to let her get close again and he hoped that the playful teasing when they got here would be enough to keep it from being obvious. 

“Makes sense. You never were into these sorts of things,” she said hopping up on the table to sit next to him. “You really should at least make an effort though. You were the one who started this whole thing in motion months ago if the stories are true.” 

“I don’t know if I’d say that I started it in motion, per se,” he shrugged. All he’d done was point out to a few people when Audrey’s birthday was and that it might be nice to throw her a party. They’d done the rest. And that was before the future Audrey got here anyway. “And I am making an effort. I’m here aren’t I?” 

“And I do appreciate it,” Audrey said as she walked up. “And if you’ll wear a party hat while you’re hiding over here in the corner, I’ll consider it good enough.” She held out a hat with a raised eyebrow. 

“Fine. But that’s my limit,” he said amusedly as he took the ridiculous thing and put it on. 

“Thank you, Duke,” she told him leaning over to kiss his cheek before heading back to the party. 

She stopped a few feet away and turned back to say to Julia, “You mentioned something about margaritas earlier?” Julia grinned and hopped off the table, following Audrey over to break them out and Duke shot Audrey a grateful look that faded when Audrey told her, “And you can tell me some stories about young Duke and Nathan.” 

“Oh I have a million of those,” Julia laughed as they got out of his hearing range.


	10. Chapter 10

The boat was scheduled to pick them all up at noon the next day and was right on time. The second they were close enough to the mainland to get a signal, Duke pulled out his phone and texted future Audrey, ‘All ok. Call you later’. He detoured to current Audrey’s car before she left and gave her the present and the explanation and told her he’d be glad to take her to see the ones that he found on Tuesday. When she asked why not tomorrow, he just told her that he had plans that couldn’t be gotten around and thankfully she accepted that without too many questions. One of the good things about being a criminal with cop friends. They don’t ask a lot of questions that they don’t want the answers to. 

Once Duke was back on his own boat, he called future Audrey and assured her that everything went according to plan and then had a long conversation about the party and the aftermath of the mess before Duke went to do the grocery shopping that he was going to take her the next day. Since he was going early for her birthday he wouldn’t have time in the morning. He was just getting back with his load when he had a visitor and was surprised to see the chief. “What brings you here?” Duke asked curiously. He didn’t usually seek him out unless it was important or for one of their lessons which were few and far between nowadays. 

“I just wanted to give you my gift for the other one to take to her,” Garland told him, handing him a wrapped package. 

“Can do. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it,” Duke told him with a nod. “You came all the way out here for that?” 

“And for dinner,” Garland said motioning to the Grey Gull where he was meeting Nathan before heading that way. Nathan got there about five minutes after him and joined him and Garland waited until after they ordered before he brought up the heavy stuff. “I know we haven’t always been close and I know that most of that is my fault. I’ve always been hard on you. Pushed you. And maybe I haven’t gone about it the best way and for that I’m sorry, but I want to explain why if you’ll listen.”

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t willing to listen,” Nathan said neutrally. 

“I knew this was coming. I knew the troubles were coming back. I knew that you would be at the center of them. I needed to get you strong enough to handle it. I needed to know that you could do what needed to be done because I won’t be here forever,” Garland told him. 

“You talk like you’re dying,” Nathan said worriedly. 

“I am,” Garland said honestly. “I don’t know how long I have. Maybe a few months. Maybe a year if I’m lucky. There are things I’m trying to buy more time, but…”

“Are you sick? What do the doctors say? What’s wrong?” 

“No, son. I’m not sick. I’m troubled. And my trouble is getting harder and harder to manage.” 

“You’re troubled? But…shouldn’t it be the same trouble as mine then?” Nathan was more than a little confused. 

Garland sighed. He hadn’t intended for Nathan to pick that up so quickly. He wanted to work his way around to it. “No. It wouldn’t. You need to know, Nathan, that you are my son in every way that matters. Just not biologically.” 

“And you never told me that?!” Nathan asked incredulously. “My entire life, you’ve been lying to me?” When Garland winced and doubled over for a moment and there was a slight shake to the building that most people thought was just a minor earthquake, Nathan knew better. Most people hadn’t seen Garland’s reaction and the timing of it and Nathan immediately calmed. He wanted answers, but if this trouble was killing him, and the anger had set it off, he knew that he needed to keep it to himself. At least for now. “Why? Why wouldn’t you tell me?” he asked with a forced calm. 

“Because it’s not a good story. And I never knew where to begin,” Garland sighed. 

“Who is my father?” Nathan asked pointedly. 

“His name is Max Hansen,” Garland told him. “He was cruel and abusive and I helped you and your mother get away from him and then your mother and I fell in love and the rest is history.”

“Where is he now?” Nathan asked, wondering why he’d never tried to find him after all these years. 

“In Shawshank, doing life for the murder of an entire family. Even before that he was in and out of jail for assault among other things. If you want, I’ll let you read his file,” Garland offered with a sigh. “You see why I never wanted you to know.” 

“Then why tell me now?” Nathan asked. “Because you’re dying?” 

“Something like that. It’s not something you should have to find out on your own. And my trouble is going to come out sooner or later and you would have been asking the same questions that you have here and then would have had to dig on your own.”

“What /is/ your trouble? What’s happening to you?” Nathan asked worriedly. He had no idea how he felt about the magnitude of this secret and the lies right now, but he could deal with that later. 

“I’m breaking apart,” Garland told him. “Those cracks that have been happening more often around town…that’s me when I lose control of it, but trying to keep it inside is going to shatter me sooner or later.”

“Is there anything we can do? You mentioned things you’re trying to buy time?” Nathan asked. 

“Well…the last time the troubles were here, Lucy helped me and…she suggested meditation. Of course, I dismissed it then, but lately…”

“That’s why you’ve been going to Duke’s boat sometimes,” Nathan realized. “I thought you were investigating him for something or trying to get dirt, but he’s been teaching you to meditate.” 

“You followed me huh?” Garland huffed torn between proud and irritated. 

“Well you were disappearing for no apparent reason so yeah. Of course I did,” Nathan shrugged unapologetically. “So Duke knows about all this? He knew before I did?” 

“I haven’t told him anything about your father or even about what my trouble is,” Garland told him honestly. Parker was the one that had told Duke all that, however much of it he knew. “He just knows that learning to meditate is basically life or death for me so he agreed to help.”

“And how much is he grifting you for it?” Nathan scoffed. 

“Nothing,” Garland said honestly. When Nathan looked at him skeptically he scrambled for a reasonable explanation that wouldn’t spill the big secret that Nathan couldn’t know and still not be completely unbelievable. “He owes someone who owes me. She called in a favor for him to help me. He’s not as bad as people think. Not that he’s all that /good/ either. I still don’t like the guy and never will and the day I manage to bust him on something I’m buying the whole station dinner. But he’s not all bad.”

Nathan wasn’t sure what to say to that. He’d heard the same thing from Audrey, though a bit stronger on the good part. He’d also seen a few signs himself and had been starting to come to the same conclusion, but he wasn’t quite ready to admit it yet, so he just dropped that subject. “Okay, so what triggers your trouble? Maybe we could work from there. Find other ways to help.” He’d been through this many times with Audrey so he knew where to start. 

“Stress is what triggers it. Which is why the meditation. And why I’ve been handing off more of the day to day to you at the station since Parker got here. Not much else we can do,” Garland told him. 

“And why you’ve been trying to fix things with me. So I don’t set you off,” Nathan realized. 

“Not for my sake,” Garland rushed to assure him. “For yours. Because if we get in a fight and that’s what kills me…I don’t want you to have to feel that kind of guilt. And if that does still happen, know that it’s not your fault. I’m already dying. There’s no stopping that. No matter what the last straw ends up being, but if I can keep you from carrying that burden…”

“Yeah, I get it,” Nathan nodded gratefully. That statement alone went a long way towards the forgiveness his father was looking for. There was one other question he needed answered though before he could even take the first step on that road. “I have to know…you’ve always been so distant with me. Ever since mom died. Was it because of my real father? Because you were afraid I would turn out like him or because I wasn’t yours and you resented me for it or…”

“God, no,” Garland told him. “As far as I’m concerned, /I/ am your /real/ father. Biology or not. And if I thought for a second you could turn out like him I would never have given you a badge. It was just that…when I lost your mother…I was lost. I closed myself off from that pain, not even realizing that I was closing myself off from you too. By the time I realized it, it had been so long I didn’t know where to start so I just kept putting it off and I shouldn’t have. I just didn’t even know /how/ to reach out anymore.” 

“You’re not doing so bad,” Nathan had to admit with a slight smile before he got to what he needed to say. “You’re right that you didn’t go about it the right way. And I hate that you hid the fact that I was adopted for so long. And I hate how you made me feel for so long. But I get it. I can’t say that everything is going to be okay with us right away. I can’t even say that I forgive you yet. But as long as you keep meeting me halfway…I’m willing to try.” 

“And that’s all I can ask,” Garland said gratefully. 

“And if there’s /anything/ that I can do to help with your trouble…” 

“I’ll let you know. But I need you to not treat me like I’m fragile. Don’t try to keep things from me because you’re trying not to stress me out. I’m still the chief and I plan to stay the chief right up until the bitter end. This is who I am,” he said firmly. 

“Okay. As long as you promise not to take on more than you can handle and not be afraid to ask for help when you need it,” Nathan tried for a compromise. 

“I can agree to that,” Garland nodded, glad that he’d made the first steps towards peace with his son while he still had the time.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning, Duke was up even earlier than usual and had the boat moving almost right away. He hoped that he had the timing right to pull off his plan. The sun was just coming up when he pulled up to the dock outside the safehouse and he tied it off quickly and slipped inside silently, heading to the kitchen to start breakfast. He managed to finish it and get it all loaded onto the tray without a peep from the bedroom and grinned as he headed that way. He set the tray on the nightstand as he sat on the edge of the bed and leaned down for a soft lingering kiss. “Duke,” she murmured sleepily as she opened her eyes. 

“Happy birthday sweetheart,” he said with a smile before she sat up and kissed him soundly. 

“I didn’t expect you to be here quite so early or I would have been up and…”

“Well that would somewhat defeat the purpose of being here early to make you breakfast in bed now wouldn’t it,” Duke chuckled, getting up to grab the tray and set it over her lap. 

“This is…I…”

“Hey, as I told your past self a few days ago…crying will not be tolerated,” he teased as he took her chin in his hand and pressed a kiss to her nose. 

“It’s not my fault you keep surprising me with such wonderful things that no one’s ever done for me before,” she said with a chuckle as she dug into the food.

“So I never made you breakfast in bed in the future?” he asked with a grin. 

“No, you did once, but you were already there and making breakfast anyway. You didn’t have to come all the way here at the crack of dawn to do it. And for my birthday at that,” she pointed out. 

“Well I do have a few more things planned for the day, so you might want to save some of that awe for later,” he said amusedly. 

“All I need is you, Duke,” she told him happily, reaching up to brush her hand down his cheek. 

“And you have me,” he promised. Once she was done eating, he took the tray back to the kitchen as she got up and got ready for the day. Once she came out he sat her down on the couch. “First things first. The present not from me. We might as well get it out of the way first.” 

“It’s from the chief?” she guessed as he handed it to her. 

“Who else knows you exist?” he pointed out amusedly. “You’ll get my present later. When the time is right.” 

“Duke you already buy me everything and let me stay in your safehouse. You don’t need to get me a present on top of it.”

“Well tough. Because I did,” he grinned motioning to the present already in her lap to remind her of it. Audrey unwrapped the present and started laughing immediately prompting Duke to ask, “What is it?” 

She turned it around so he could see. “It’s a day calendar,” she said through her laughter. The perfect gift for a time traveler. Especially one who was trapped in one house all the time laying low. It even had funny sayings and quotes for each day. 

Duke couldn’t help but laugh at the gift too before he told her, “Now go get a heavier coat. We’re going out for the day.”

“You remember I can’t be seen right?” she reminded him. 

“Obviously. You won’t be. Trust me,” he told her. 

“I do trust you, Duke. Always,” she told him as she went to grab her heavy coat and then he led her out to the boat. 

“You’re welcome to come up top with me while I’m driving or hang out elsewhere,” he told her and she decided to follow him up top. 

“Where are we going?” she asked excitedly, knowing that anything he had up his sleeve was bound to be good. 

“You’ll see,” he smirked. “Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise, would we?” 

She huffed and bumped him with her shoulder but knew that it was pointless to ask any more questions. The man could keep a secret like no one else. He would tell her when he wanted to and not a minute before. Instead, she turned her attention to asking questions about the different instruments and buttons that she could see to keep her mind off of it and he answered them all patiently and completely, even throwing in a few funny stories. After over an hour he shut down the engines and started turning levers and she looked out the window to see the sails coming up. “We’re using sails?” she asked curiously. 

“The engines tend to bother what we’re here to see,” he said cryptically as he operated the sails as expertly as he did the engines, and she stepped outside to the railing to see them headed into a secluded cove before going back inside, wanting to wait for him to show her whatever it was. It was only about twenty minutes before he started reeling the sails in and checked the underwater doppler before pressing the button to lower the anchor before he finally led her back down to the deck. 

She went straight to the side, looking around for what he wanted her to see and Duke stepped up behind her, wrapping his arms around her stomach and resting his chin on her shoulder as he looked around with her, hoping they would make an appearance. He’d spotted them here a few months ago and hoped they hadn’t moved on somewhere. She spotted them first though and gasped. “Is that…” she pointed. 

“Yep. There they are,” he grinned. “Atlantic white-sided dolphins,” he told her. 

“They’re gorgeous,” she said in awe as she watched them swim circles wide circles around the boat like they were studying it. 

“I thought you’d like it,” he said happily, glad he’d thought of it. “If we’re lucky they might come close enough to let us feed them later once they get used to our presence.” 

“That would be amazing,” she breathed out. “Do we have anything to feed them?” 

“Of course,” Duke chuckled. “I wouldn’t overlook something like that, now would I?” 

She turned in his arms and kissed him lovingly which soon turned to making love right there on the deck of the boat despite the cold. The thermal blanket that Duke had out there in case she got cold worked perfectly. They lay there in each other’s arms for quite a while before getting up and getting dressed again to return to watching the dolphins. They took a break a couple hours later for a picnic lunch on the deck and it wasn’t long after that when the first dolphin got curious enough to get close so Duke opened up the cooler he had set aside for this and handed Audrey a large fish. “Go ahead,” he told her. 

“How…”

“Just hold it down as far as you can. They’ll get it,” he told her. 

She moved over a few feet where the railing was lower so she could lean down farther and it didn’t take long before the first curious dolphin came up and took it from her hand and she grinned widely, turning back to look at Duke and he handed her another fish. It seemed one of the others had noticed the food on offer and ventured over. This time she reached out with her other hand, fully trusting Duke not to let her fall or at least save her if she did and when the dolphin came up to grab the fish she reached out to run her hand over it’s beak. She kept up the action as long as Duke kept handing her fish which he did until they ran out and then she stood back up, ignoring the crick in her back from leaning over like that for so long and jumped into his arms and kissed him again. “This is the perfect day, Duke. It’s just what I needed.” She had been feeling more than a little cooped up lately and being out like this was wonderful. 

“I’m glad,” he said happily, running a hand through her hair and just enjoying being with her for a little while before he went and pulled the grill out. “Since the greedy little dolphins ate all our fish, we’re having steaks for dinner,” he joked, pulling a happy laugh from her and she alternated between watching the dolphins and watching him at the grill while he cooked. By the time they finished eating the sun was starting to set and he pulled a box out of his pocket. “Time for my present now.” 

“You’re going to spoil me,” she said with a grin. 

“That’s the idea,” he smirked as he handed it to her. 

When she opened it, she gasped and reached out to run her hand over it. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed out as her fingers traced the blue topaz dolphin jumping through the gold heart. She took the necklace out of the box and handed it to him, turning her back to him and pulling her hair to the side in a clear request for him to put it on her. 

Duke did so slowly, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to her neck as he clasped it. “I love you, Audrey,” he breathed out next to her ear. 

Audrey sucked in a sharp breath at his words…the first time she’d heard them from this version of him, and turned around, reaching up to card her hands through his hair and over his cheeks as she whispered, “I love you, Duke. Always.” 

“Always,” he whispered back before pulling her into a long sweet kiss. Once they broke apart, they turned and watched the sunset together before going inside so that she could thank him properly for the most perfect birthday she could imagine. They spent the night on the Rouge that night, right there in the cove, falling asleep to the sounds of the dolphins. The next morning after a nice breakfast they headed back and Duke dropped her back off at the safehouse before heading back to meet the other Audrey for their planned meeting with his old babysitter.


	12. Chapter 12

When Audrey talked to Duke that night, he told her that everything went according to plan and that he’d slipped Vanessa his number in case she needed any help. Audrey found it amusing that it made her other self think that he had a thing for Vanessa. Some things would never change. She just hoped that Vanessa would reach out and let Duke help her. She hated that it had to happen in the first place, but who knew if they would be able to catch the kid killing other kids without her information. Plus her past self had to understand that no one else knew anything about that day either and the crazy old man wouldn’t help with that at all. 

The call the next day didn’t go nearly as well though and she had barely picked up the phone, much later than usual given the drama, when he said hauntedly, “She still died. I did everything I could, even with your future information, and she still died.”

“I’m so sorry, Duke,” she sighed sadly. 

“I told her not to come along. We even left her behind. I told her she would die if she did, but she came anyway,” Duke told her, needing her to know just how hard he had tried. That he hadn’t left it up to fate. He knew how guilty she was feeling about sending them to Vanessa in the first place and activating her trouble and he didn’t want her to feel like she was at fault in any way. 

“Maybe she was always meant to die there,” Audrey said morosely, wiping a tear that had fallen down her cheek. 

“You mean like destiny crap? You believe in that?” Duke asked skeptically. 

“I believe that we choose our own destinies,” she said shakily. After everything they’d been through, where they were now, she had to believe that. It had to be her choice to walk into the barn for a reason. “You were the one that taught me that. And she was the one who chose to go along despite the warnings. She chose to put herself in that fight knowing that it could kill her.” 

“Doesn’t make it much easier to live with,” Duke sighed. “If I hadn’t gotten involved with her…”

“You don’t know that something else wouldn’t have triggered her trouble anyway and it could have ended up even worse,” she told him. “Your future self helped me understand even before I came back that I would be put in a situation to make impossible choices like this and /I/ am the one who has to carry those consequences. Not you.”

“But I was the one who made the choice to follow your plan, knowing what could happen,” Duke pointed out. 

“And you did everything you could to save her. We both did. She had a chance this time that she didn’t have last time around. That’s all we can give anyone,” she told him. He couldn’t really argue with that, but it would take him a little time to be able to come to terms with it anyway so the conversation moved on from there, but stayed far more subdued than their usual nightly talks, but by the time he made his next trip out that weekend, they had both put it all behind them and just enjoyed the little bit of time they could steal together. 

The following Friday night, Duke hosted the infamous poker game on his boat, already dreading what was coming, but he knew it would be worth it. He had tried to keep Julia away but the current Audrey had invited her along, so he would have been an ass to say no. Her words cut deep, but not nearly as much as they would have if he’d let her get close again, so he was grateful for that warning at least. That didn’t make the beating hurt any less, but at least he knew that Julia wasn’t being hurt too. 

When Garland found out that Duke’s boat had been hijacked with Audrey and Howard on board, his stress levels skyrocketed. If this was something that had changed in the timeline due to all the fiddling they were doing…he got himself under control soon enough and once he was sure that Nathan wouldn’t go running off half-cocked, he slipped away to call the future Audrey. “Crocker’s boat has been taken, with him and you on board,” he said the moment he heard her pick up before she could even get a word out. 

“Oh, is that tonight?” she asked calmly. “I must have gotten my weeks mixed up.”

“So you knew it was going to happen?” Garland asked, both relieved and annoyed. 

“Yeah, I did. And it’s all going to be fine,” she assured him. 

“Did Crocker know?” 

“He did,” she admitted. 

“And he just let it happen?” Garland asked in shock. 

“This incident was an important one for our friendship. Fighting side by side kinda thing. And this was the incident that pushed me over the edge and made me decide to stay in Haven,” she explained. “I gave him the choice though. I probably would have stayed anyway and you know that you and Howard would have made sure of that even if I didn’t want to. I guess he decided it was worth it.” 

“I would appreciate a little more of a heads-up in these situations,” he said gruffly. He could reluctantly understand being kept out of the loop on the chameleon, but not this one. 

“You’re right. I’m sorry. It wasn’t a police thing so I didn’t even think about it. I’ll try to be better about keeping you up to date,” Audrey said sincerely. 

“Good. Now what should I know about this?” he asked. 

“Well one of the guys that took the boat is troubled. He can read minds. Ezra I think his name is. I can’t remember the other guy’s name…” 

“That gonna be a problem? With all Crocker’s future knowledge and all?” he asked worriedly. 

“No, he can’t read him that specifically and Duke is a master of his own mind. He’ll keep that much hidden. Even last time around it took them hours of beating him to a pulp before he slipped up and thought about what they wanted to know, and the future stuff will be hidden even deeper than that,” Audrey assured him. 

“You’re putting a lot of faith in that,” Garland told him. 

“Even if he did pick something up and say anything, anyone would just assume that Duke was feeding him false information or something anyway,” she pointed out. 

“Good point,” Garland admitted. 

“Dad!” Nathan burst into the room interrupting them. 

“One second,” Garland replied. 

“Dad?” Audrey asked with a bright smile. It seemed that something had helped if Nathan wasn’t calling him ‘chief’ anymore. 

“We’ll talk later,” Garland told her. “Keep me in the loop.” 

“Who was that?” Nathan asked as he hung up the phone. 

“Coast Guard contact,” he lied. “What do you have?” 

“I got a text from Parker confirming that they boat’s been hijacked and that they’re trapped on board. I also got into her computer and found out who she was investigating. Ezra Colbert and Tobias Blaine. They’ve been banned from casinos up and down the east coast, but…why would she be investigating poker cheats?” 

“And why are poker cheats playing low stakes poker on Duke’s boat?” Garland had to chime in. 

“And why’s she now trapped on the boat,” Nathan added. 

“Sounds like you got more questions than you do answers,” Garland told him. 

“You got any answers? Because I’m all ears if you do,” Nathan said impatiently. 

“You know what she does. The kind of people she works with. Why don’t you start by asking yourself what could make her take interest in them in the first place?” he suggested and could see the lightbulb in Nathan’s mind. 

“If one or both of them is troubled…”

“There you go,” Garland said proudly before heading back to his office. He didn’t completely relax until they got the call that the situation was under control and they were on the way back. He went out with Nathan to the docks where they said they were coming in and when he saw the one guy beaten up, he assumed that it wasn’t the troubled one and was the one that had been taking advantage of the troubled guy instead. “What happened there?” he asked Duke who looked like his face had been through a meat-grinder himself. 

“He fell,” Duke told him. “A lot,” he added. 

“Rough seas?” Garland suggested, needing something for the report. 

“Sounds good to me,” Duke agreed before adding a zinger. “Those tend to happen when the boat ends up with a big crack in the hull.” 

Garland winced, but wasn’t about to say anything more in front of everyone, though he did catch the side-eyes from everyone but Julia who had no idea about his trouble. He noticed Howard pulling Audrey aside as he was leaving to handle the prisoners and suspected that Howard would be finding him later to talk about it. Especially if this was when she decided to stay in Haven.


	13. Chapter 13

Garland had just barely finished getting the two guys settled into cells before he got the message to meet Howard and headed that way. “She’s all yours,” Howard said as he walked up. “Just needed a push.” 

“Parker’s not the type that likes to be told what to do,” Garland pointed out and boy did he know that well. “It’s gotta be her idea. Not yours. Not mine.”

“You sure she deserves all this?” Howard asked amusedly. 

“I don’t know. Does anybody?” Garland replied. “I’ll tell you what…we need her here.” 

“So the crack on the boat…”

“Yeah. I saw it.”

“You need to get that under control. Soon,” Howard said firmly. 

Garland nodded curtly and changed the subject to what he needed to know. Or rather what the future Audrey needed to know. “Let me ask you something. Hypothetical.”

“Hypothetical?” Howard asked suspiciously. 

“Hypothetical,” Garland said seriously. “Say some kind of trouble or something split Parker in two and there were two of her running around. When the barn comes…would they both have to go?” Parker didn’t want him to know about the time travel so this was the only way he could think of to approach the right subject and get the answers she needed. 

“No. Only the original could possibly go. The barn is attuned to the energy she had when she stepped out. Energy that would be inherently changed in any copy,” Howard told him. “You’ve found a trouble that can do that?” 

“No, nothing like that. Just a comment someone made that got me thinking what if,” Garland told him. 

Howard wasn’t at all convinced of that so felt a warning would be helpful. “Well I should warn you…if that is something that you run across…No copy created in that way could survive for long. Maybe a few months tops before it would begin to break down and die slowly and painfully.” She shouldn’t be able to be affected by that sort of trouble anyway, so it should be a moot point, but just in case, he needed that understood. 

“Makes sense,” Garland nodded, not really caring what Howard thought they were planning as long as he didn’t get close to the truth. “As I said, just a curiosity.” 

“Well if you are finished wasting my time with pointless hypotheticals…” Garland just waved him away, sticking around long enough to finish his cigarette before heading back to the station to finish up the paperwork he’d left to come here. By the time he finished that it was late. 

The next morning, Garland headed to the dry dock looking for Crocker and found him working on the Cape Rouge. “How long it gonna take for you to fix her?” he asked concerned. 

“Two days give or take,” Duke told him, putting the welding torch down. “You offering to help?” It would only be fair since he caused it in the first place after all. 

“In a way,” Garland nodded. He didn’t have the time or inclination to actually do the physical work on the boat even if Duke would let him. He was famous for not letting anyone else, even the people paid to do it, put a finger on his boat. “You’re supposed to be running supplies out to Parker today?” 

“I called her last night and let her know I’d be delayed. She’ll manage until then,” Duke told him. 

“Well if you can give me your word that nothing illegal will go anywhere near my boat…I’ll let you use it to make the run,” he offered. 

Duke narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the chief of police. “It got GPS logs?” 

“Like you don’t know how to wipe them,” Garland rolled his eyes. 

Duke considered it for a minute before nodding. Only because he missed Audrey so much. “I’ll have it back by lunch tomorrow?” 

“That works,” Garland agreed. It wasn’t like he was planning to use it between now and then. He tossed Duke the keys with a warning, “Remember…anything illegal on my boat and I’ll have you locked up so fast your head will spin.” 

“I highly doubt groceries would be considered illegal,” Duke snorted amusedly before heading up to lock his boat down completely and set a few traps just in case this was some kind of trick to get him away from it so they could search. Once he was sure that his boat was as secure as it could get, he headed to the grocery store, deciding to surprise Audrey rather than let her know he was coming. 

When he got there, he was met with a happy kiss before she asked, “Where’d you get the boat and how long do we have until the owner notices it missing?” 

Duke laughed and shook his head at the easy acceptance of the assumption that he’d stolen the boat. The assumption didn’t bother him. It wasn’t unreasonable after all. “The chief actually let me borrow it. Didn’t want you to have to suffer without groceries for the two days it would take me to get the Cape Rouge seaworthy again.” 

“That was nice of him. I’ll have to thank him,” Audrey said with a smile. “That doesn’t mean you have to rush back does it?” 

“Nope. I told him I’d have it back by lunchtime tomorrow,” Duke grinned and pulled her into a passionate kiss before they set to getting the groceries inside and put away and he started lunch. 

It didn’t take Nathan long to notice his father’s boat gone and a few questions revealed that Duke had left with it so he went straight to his father. “You know Duke Crocker is gone on your boat, right?” 

“I know. I loaned it to him,” he said simply. 

“You /loaned/ it to him? /Your/ boat. To known smuggler,” Nathan asked incredulously. 

“He had an urgent delivery to make and it /is/ my fault his boat is out of commission,” Garland told him. “And I made damn sure that the delivery was legitimate and that nothing illegal would be happening on my boat under penalty of firing squad.” 

“You mean he actually /has/ legitimate business,” Nathan scoffed. 

“Not a lot, probably, but some yeah,” Garland shrugged. “The Grey Gull for instance.” 

“So the delivery is for the restaurant?” Nathan asked confused. 

“He’s delivering food and basic supplies,” Garland told him, not answering the question fully. 

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Nathan shook his head ruefully. 

“You and me both, son,” Garland muttered. 

That made Nathan feel a little better about the situation. That his father wasn’t going into this blind. He didn’t hate Duke nearly as much as he used to, and was even starting to come around about him not being all that bad, but trusting him to that degree was still far beyond him and he couldn’t believe that his father was doing so. 

Garland waited until Duke got back with his boat before calling Parker to let her know what Howard had told him. It wasn’t urgent enough to interrupt their couple time. “What’s up chief?” Audrey asked worriedly as soon as she picked up the phone. 

“A few things. Mostly wanted to let you know I talked to Howard.”

“What did he say?” she asked nervously.

“Good news and bad news,” he told her. “The current timeline Parker is the only one that can go. She has to go in the same as she came out and since you mentioned something about having another personality in there in the background…”

“Then I wouldn’t work,” she sighed. “At least that makes that decision easy. I /can’t/ take her place.”

“But it also means that she’s still our only hope and if she doesn’t want to go…”

“She will,” Audrey assured him. “There is no way she’ll be able to live with the consequences if she doesn’t. What about my being here? Will it interfere with the barn in any way?” 

“I don’t think so. I used the whole, if something split you in two excuse and he didn’t seem to see any problem with the copy staying behind, but then it could be because the copy would die within a few months anyway.”

“Still, you’d think he would have said something if it would have interfered only for that long,” she pointed out, knowing that he’d considered the same thing and just needed the reassurance. “But if it does come to that…if the troubles don’t go away…I’ll take myself off the board.” 

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Garland said uncomfortably. Going into the barn was one thing, but actually killing yourself was completely different. 

“You’re not asking,” Audrey told him. “It’s no different than the barn. I couldn’t live with so many lives being ruined to save mine in that situation either.” 

Garland sighed, not willing to admit that it did make him feel better. Not wanting to actually /condone/ that course of action, but not able to argue against it either, so he changed the subject. “Anything else coming up that I should be aware of?”

“Max Hansen will be getting out on parole soon. I’m not sure of the exact date, but sometime within the next month and he’ll be coming back to Haven,” she told him. 

“For Nathan?” Garland asked worriedly. 

“I don’t know,” she admitted, deciding not to tell him about his role in the man’s death. She couldn’t quite bring herself to try and save him. There was no telling what kind of damage he could do if he survived this time around so she would leave it in fate’s hands. “I didn’t really interact with him much and as far as I know the only time Nathan talked to him was when he told him that he was his father and Nathan took off after that. I know that you had a few run-ins with him though and it didn’t help your condition at all, so I thought I should warn you.” 

“I appreciate that. I’ll keep an eye out,” Garland agreed. 

“At least Nathan knows about him now right?” she asked. “It seemed like you two have patched things up a bit if he’s calling you dad now?” 

“We did. I took your advice and told him everything. We’re not great, but we’re getting there.” 

“Good. I’m glad. Even if the worst does happen at least you both have that peace of mind,” she said gladly. “How’s the meditation coming?” 

“I can actually do it now, which is a bonus. It’s still not easy for me, but I just have to keep practicing.”

“And is it helping? I know about what happened with Duke’s boat.”

“It’s helping. Not a whole lot yet, but it’s something,” he told her. “Crocker says that once I get better at it it’ll help more. I hope he’s right.” 

“Me too,” she said sadly, not telling him that they were running out of time. He didn’t need that kind of pressure. It would do the opposite of help. “Thank you for letting him use your boat to come out here.” 

“No reason to make you suffer just because I couldn’t hold it together,” Garland said gruffly. 

Audrey could tell that he was hiding his own guilt behind the gruffness. He always did. “It was as much my fault for not thinking to warn you. And even Duke’s for the same reason. No one blames you.” 

“Anything else I should know?” he asked changing the subject. 

“Not that I can think of,” she shrugged.


	14. Chapter 14

When Nathan noticed Max Hansen’s file on his father’s desk a couple weeks later he was more than a little curious. Nathan hadn’t asked to see it, so he had to ask, “What’s that?” 

Garland sighed and motioned for Nathan to sit. “Max Hansen is out on parole. And back in Haven. I just ran into him at the Gull this morning while I was having breakfast.” He was doing his best to hold it together right now, even trying the on the spot meditation that Duke had told him how to do. He just couldn’t manage it yet. 

“You okay?” Nathan asked worriedly, seeing the stress lines in the chief’s face. 

“I’m managing,” he told him. 

“Since he’s out now, I guess I should probably have a look,” he motioned for the file, wanting to be prepared in case Max came looking for him. Garland grabbed the file and tossed it over to him and Nathan flipped through. He’d seen worse, but knowing that he shared the same genes with this man made it a nauseating read. One charge in particular stuck out to him though. “He almost killed me once?” 

“Shook you when you were a baby. You were in the hospital for a few days, but made a full recovery,” Garland told him. 

Nathan took a few deep breaths before saying something that he probably should have said before, but hadn’t been able to bring himself to do so. “I want to…thank you. For taking me in. For adopting me. Raising me right. Even if you did make mistakes.” 

“It was the best thing I ever did,” Garland replied honestly. “And I’ve never regretted it for a minute.” 

Duke was headed to the boat to go see Audrey, and even had a bouquet of flowers for her and had picked up a last minute pineapple for a desert he decided to make. He was more than a little surprised to find a strange man sitting on his boat. “I don’t know who you are friend, but you need to get the hell out of my chair,” he told him as he stepped onto the boat. 

“This your boat?” Max asked. 

“Damn sure not yours,” Duke quipped setting his stuff down. 

“Then you’re the man I came to see. Duke Crocker,” Max said amusedly, looking him up and down. 

“Well now you must have missed the part where I told you to get your ass out of my mother-loving chair,” Duke said as he circled near one of his other hidden guns just in case. 

“John Draft up in Shawshank said you might be the man to get me a job,” Max got to the point. 

“Well I’m very sorry but I can’t help you,” Duke told him. He didn’t have anything right now and was more than a little busy with other things for the moment. Not to mention he had figured out who this guy was and wanted nothing to do with him. It might have taken him longer if Audrey hadn’t told him about him and that he would be coming to town soon. Even at his worst, he never helped killers. Especially not kiddie-killers. 

“He also said you owed him some money,” Max brought out the big guns. If he couldn’t get a job then money would suffice for the moment. “And that if I wanted to collect it, that was fine with him.” 

“Well you tell John that if he wants his money, he’s gonna have to come get it himself,” Duke said, relaxing a little more now that he was within arms reach of a hidden gun. He definitely wasn’t going to play that game. He knew how it worked. If he forked over to this guy then John would come along wanting his money and he’d be out double. He wasn’t an idiot. 

Max got up, taking off his overshirt to get ready for a fight. “You don’t want to give me my money, then I’m gonna have to take it from you.”

Duke decided not to show /all/ of his hands just yet and grabbed a pipe instead of the gun and twirled it in his hand. “Well…you do what you need to do.” 

“Well, that doesn’t seem fair to me,” Max said amusedly. 

“Oh, I’m not interested in fair,” Duke said with a smirk. “I’m interested in getting your ass off of my boat.” When he saw Max start to falter, he put the pipe down and said, “I don’t think you came here to fight,” as he sauntered over to his chair. 

“That’s a gamble,” Max told him, a little impressed with the kid’s moxie. 

“You just got paroled,” Duke pointed out as he sat lazily, unobtrusively reaching one hand down to the gun strapped under the chair. “You gonna risk getting sent back inside for John Draft’s money?”

“They said you were smart. Ballsy too,” Max smirked. 

“Thank you,” Duke said smugly. “Now why don’t you tell me why you really came here?” 

“I’ll find you at the Gull,” Max said before he left. He’d made contact and got a feel for the guy which was the main point of this encounter. 

Duke watched him walk away and waited until he was out of sight before he took his hand off the gun and got up. He untied the mooring lines and got the boat moving before he pulled out his phone to call the chief. He tacked close to shore for the duration of the call. “Just got a visit from Max Hansen,” he told him as soon as he picked up the phone. 

“What did he want?” Garland asked suspiciously, glad that Nathan had left already so he wouldn’t be asked to explain this conversation. 

“Money and a job. Seems like he’s planning to stick around for a while.”

“You help him?” Garland asked in a hard tone. 

“Do I /look/ stupid?” Duke scoffed. “Even if I didn’t know who he was, I don’t work with killers. You should know me better than that by now. I told him he was out of luck and he just said he’d find me later.” 

“You’re headed to the hideaway?” Garland asked, noticing the time and not even bothering to ask if Max had admitted to anything illegal that he could get him on. Even if he had, Duke wouldn’t testify for obvious reasons and Duke would have told him if there was anything he could hunt down on his own and keep him out of it. 

“Sure am. Already on the water.” He knew that the chief would be able to tell that anyway from the sound of the engines and the wind on the line. 

“With any luck I’ll have him out of the way by the time you get back. If I don’t…”

“I won’t let my guard down,” Duke didn’t make him say it. 

“Good. And make sure he’s not tracking you. The last thing we need is for him to find her.”

“Way ahead of you,” Duke told him. He’d hit the scrambler before he turned anything on the boat on. Anything throwing a signal nearby got killed and he always kept his gps logs wiped clean.

Garland hung up the phone and went looking for Hansen, refusing to consider the fact that he was actually worried about Duke Crocker. He just needed him, that was all. He was the only one who knew where the future Audrey was and he knew more than him about what was coming up. The only one he was worried about was Nathan. Which was why finding Max with his hands on Nathan, and seeing the cold look on his son’s face and the gun in his hand was enough to set him off. Before he could even stop it, a crack opened up under Hansen and he was barely quick enough to grab Nathan’s arm before he could fall in too. 

Nathan just stood there in shock for a long moment, clinging to his father’s arm and staring at his biological father’s still body at the bottom of the newly formed crevice. When he finally did find words, he noticed that the chief was in the same state of shock. “Tell me that was an accident?” Nathan asked almost desperately. 

“No matter how much I may have wanted him dead, I’m not a murderer,” Garland told him. “It was an accident,” he said seriously when Nathan seemed to need to hear the words. 

Nathan sighed with relief before asking, “Why are you here?” 

“Looking for him. Got a call from Crocker. He went looking for a job and threats were made when he was sent packing,” Garland said honestly. “Was hoping I could get something to arrest him.” 

“Well it looks like that won’t be necessary anymore,” Nathan said emotionlessly. He wasn’t sure what to feel right now and was keeping it all bottled up. “I’ll handle this. You should go. With your history…”

Garland nodded and walked away, but not before one last, “I’m sorry, Nathan.” Once he was far enough away he pulled his phone. He wasn’t sure if Duke would be there yet but he needed to ask Parker a few things anyway. 

“What’s up, chief?” Audrey answered as she always did when he called. 

“Max Hansen is dead,” he said evenly. 

Audrey sighed heavily as she said, “Was it…a crack?” She refrained from saying the word ‘you’. 

“You knew it would happen?” he asked. 

“It did last time,” she admitted. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I’m not sorry he’s dead. There’s no telling how much damage someone like him could have done if I’d changed that. You okay?” She knew that he was strong enough to handle that, even with his trouble, or she might have done something different. 

“I’ll live,” Garland told her. He didn’t exactly /like/ being responsible for someone’s death, but given who it was he wasn’t shedding any tears. “Let Crocker know it’s handled.” 

“I will,” she promised. “He should be here soon.” She definitely planned to get the story from him about why the chief thought he should know.


	15. Chapter 15

Audrey heard the Cape Rouge just as she hung up the phone and she headed out to meet Duke on the dock, tying him off with practiced ease as he tossed her the ropes and he got everything shut down before he swept her up in a kiss and then handed her the flowers which got him another kiss. “I don’t think anyone’s every brought me flowers before,” she told him happily. 

“Then I’m glad to be the first,” he grinned. “Why don’t you go put them in water while I start unloading the groceries,” he suggested and she ran to do just that. 

Once she got back to help him, she told him, “The chief called a few minutes ago. Max Hansen’s dead. Fell into a crack in the ground.”

“On purpose?” Duke asked curiously. He wasn’t going to blame him if it was. 

“I doubt it, but I didn’t ask,” she told him which was basically the same as Duke’s thoughts. “Why would he think you needed to know that?” 

“We had a bit of a confrontation before I left,” he told her as he started lunch while she put the groceries away in their usual routine. “He apparently knew one of my prior associates on the inside and came to me looking for a job. I sent him packing, threats were made, you know how it goes. Normally I just would have left it at that, but given who he was, I figured the old man should know.” 

“It was just threats though? Nothing else?” she asked looking him over for any injuries. 

“He didn’t lay a hand on me,” Duke assured her with a chuckle. 

“Good. I’m sure you would have made him regret it if he had,” she said with an amused smirk. 

“Damn right,” Duke nodded. “And since he was on my boat, I could have even claimed self-defense and called him out for trespassing.” 

Once they were sitting down to eat, she told him, “So it won’t be long now before Evi shows up.”

“Do you know /how/ long?” he asked. 

“I know it was within a few days of this. There will be a trouble going on at the time causing biblical plagues and crap. I should have warned the chief of that,” she realized. 

“I’ll let him know or you can call him tomorrow,” he told her. 

“I’ll call him tomorrow. I want to check on him anyway. Tonight is the night he died last time,” she explained. 

“Well hopefully the meditation lessons and other strings you’ve pulled helped and he can hold on a little longer.”

“I hope so. A lot of things fell apart when he died,” she sighed. “But back to the subject…I would suggest you tell me about Evi as soon as you can after she shows up. I know there’s a lot going on and even if you have to tell me in front of other people.”

“Why’s it so important?” Duke asked curiously. 

“Well, I guess it’s not a huge deal if things happen like last time, but last time she was the one who told me in a way that seemed like you had been hiding her away and I had just been starting to come to terms with the fact that I had feelings for you so it hurt a lot,” she told him. 

“I’ll make sure to bring it up right away then,” Duke promised. Anything to save Audrey even a little bit of pain. 

“The rev is also going to start trying to get to you. Weasel his way into your good graces,” she warned him. 

“Why?” he asked. 

“I can’t tell you that. Not yet,” she said apologetically. “But you can’t trust him.”

“I could have figured that out for myself,” Duke snorted derisively. “You’re not saying I did last time?” 

“I don’t know if you actually trusted him or if you were just playing along to get the information you needed from him. I like to think it was the latter, but you never said one way or the other,” she told him. 

“The same information that you’re not telling me?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” she admitted. 

Duke sighed. “I hate that you’re hiding things from me. Even more that they’re /about/ me. I just want that known.”

“I know,” she sighed. “And I’m sorry.”

“I know you are,” he told her. “And I /do/ understand the kind of burdens you’re working under here which is why I’m not pushing it. Because I trust you, and I know you’ll tell me what I need to know when I need to know it. I just need /you/ to understand that that kind of trust…for me…” He trailed off not really knowing how to put it into words. 

She reached over and took his hand, leading him to the couch since they were done eating now, and curled up in his arms. “I know how hard this is for you,” she said gently. “And it means a lot that you’re willing to trust me that far. I /hate/ knowing how betrayed you’re going to feel when this comes out, but this one I really /can’t/ tell you. Your future self made me promise not to and I can’t break that promise.” She knew that was probably why he’d made her promise. So that she wouldn’t break down and tell him anyway. 

“I get that, and it does help, you know? Knowing that you won’t break a promise to me no matter what,” Duke said shakily. The fact that he would feel betrayed when it came out made him more than a little nervous about what it was, but he still meant everything he said. “I can’t promise that in the heat of the moment I won’t be pissed and blame you, but I /will/ get over it, and…you do know that no matter how mad I get, I would never hurt you right?” He had to make sure she knew that. That her fear of him finding out wasn’t because of that. 

“I know that,” she assured him. “And nothing would ever make be believe otherwise for a second.”

“Good,” he said relieved. “Because I love you, Audrey. No matter what happens or what this big secret is, I will always love you and we can get past it.” 

“I hope so,” she whispered, resting her forehead against his neck as her legs draped across his lap. 

“I promise,” he whispered back, hoping that it was just the natural insecurity that was making her that worried about it and not a statement of how bad it was. “But back to the original conversation, Evi will be here and the rev is trying to use me. Anything else?” 

“I’m not sure of the timeline as to when, but I know that at one point Evi was working with the rev. She claimed that it was all for your own good, but…”

“What do you think?” he asked, knowing that he would be too close to the situation to have an unbiased opinion, but wanted to hear hers. 

“You thought it was all a load of crap, but…I think that she really did care about you and thought she was helping you. How much of that was her motivation and if there was more to it, I don’t know. And it might have been that she was just that good of an actress, but I doubt it,” Audrey told him. 

“Okay, so I won’t /completely/ eviscerate her then,” Duke decided. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let her get away with going behind my back with the enemy like that, no matter why she did it.”

“I never expected you would,” she chuckled. She knew how important trust was to him and that Evi had to have known that so she deserved everything she had coming. 

“I’m still going to do my best to get her out of town though, but if she’s working a job, paid or not, I doubt I’ll get anywhere with that,” Duke sighed. 

“Like I said, I don’t know when she hooked up with the rev. It might not have been until after she’d been here for a while. It was almost two months after she got here that you found out,” she told him. She would tell him more about the rev later on when things got closer to happening, but for now that was enough. 

“Do you happen to know what I tried last time and why it didn’t work? Maybe I can try it differently this time?” 

“I know you tried to convince her that it wasn’t safe here and that you didn’t want her around. She claimed that you hated Haven and that if you were sticking around here that you must have a con or a scam going and she wanted in and wouldn’t believe a word you said when you told her that you didn’t,” she explained. 

Duke nodded as he considered that for a moment before shaking it off. “I’ll worry about that later. I’d much rather not waste our so short time together thinking about her. Unless there’s anything else I need to know?”

“Not that I can think of,” she told him before kissing him deeply and Evi or the rev weren’t mentioned at all for the rest of the visit.


	16. Chapter 16

Once Duke left the next morning after breakfast, Audrey grabbed the phone to call the chief who answered with his normal, “What?” 

“You don’t know how glad I am to hear your voice today,” she said relieved. 

“Oh? I take it yesterday was the day?” he asked. 

“Yeah. It was,” she admitted. 

He had never asked when and didn’t want to know. He was of the firm opinion that there were some things that a man wasn’t supposed to know about himself and when he died was one of them. “Then I suppose I should thank you,” he told her. Every day after this would be a gift that he would cherish. “That all you called for?” 

“No, actually. I was talking to Duke last night and a subject came up that I realized I should give you a heads up about.”

“What subject is that?” 

“Biblical plagues,” she sighed. 

“I suppose it’s too much to hope for that it was an intellectual type discussion?” Garland said wearily. 

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Okay, what can you tell me?” he asked, getting his head in the game. 

“Well it starts with blood coming through the water supply and then there are frogs and flies and…”

“I’m familiar with the plagues,” he cut her off. 

“The troubled guy causing them just had a baby. His wife died in childbirth and he was out of town when it happened. I think his name was TJ but I can’t remember more than that. The plagues follow him while he’s running around town. His trouble is that what he reads comes to life. We solved it by getting him reading the velveteen rabbit to his son.”

“Not sure how much of that I can work in to get them on the right track, but I’ll do what I can,” Garland promised. 

“Also, once the plagues start, the real Audrey Parker from the FBI comes to town looking for the person who’s impersonating her,” Audrey told him. “You need to let her ride along with the case and get close to me. It’s the only way she’ll see that I’m not the bad guy and it’ll get her to cover for me when her boss shows up.”

“I see why you told me that. I wouldn’t have gone for that solution otherwise,” he admitted. “You’re sure it’ll work the same as last time?” 

“Not positive no, but it’s the only option other than letting the FBI come in and drag me away for impersonating an agent,” she told him. “Nathan and I are going to arrest her for the same thing at first before she gets dragged along because we suspect her of causing it since the plagues started as soon as she showed up.”

“Then I’ll wait a while to point them towards TJ,” Garland decided. 

“Probably best,” she realized. “But if you can come up with some excuse to keep the roads as clear as possible between the church and the beach you should. I’m pretty sure that the only actual deaths were from the accidents there when the flies descended.” 

“I’ll see what I can do,” Garland promised. 

Later that night when she got the daily call from Duke, the first thing he asked was, “Any idea what’s got you holed up in your apartment living on frosting?” 

Audrey thought for a second before she realized and chuckled. “I just found out that Lucy Ripley was me not my mother and I’m trying to wrap my head around it. I’ll be okay. Just be your normal supportive self when I come out which should be soon.” 

“Okay. I can do that. Long as you’re okay,” he said relieved before the conversation moved on. 

When Duke got a call then next morning from the rev, he couldn’t say that he was surprised so he went to check it out, remembering Audrey’s warning not to trust him. That didn’t mean that he couldn’t fish for information though. It ended up landing him right in the middle of the next trouble and it was apparently time for the plagues to start. He knew that Audrey would have warned the chief so he tried Nathan. When he couldn’t get Nathan or Audrey on the phone, he went looking for them and found them at the scene of an accident which was where he spotted Evi in the crowd of lookie-loos. He couldn’t help but wonder if there was some sort of plague that involved betraying exes. 

When Audrey and Nathan noticed him get discombobulated at the sight of the crowd they both looked back and forth between them and him confusedly and he knew that this was probably going to be his best chance. “I just thought I saw…Um…my wife actually, but…I haven’t seen or heard from her in like three years so…I was probably just imagining things.” He wasn’t even entirely sure that he wasn’t imagining it. That it wasn’t just the power of suggestion or something given how fast she disappeared. There one minute and gone the next. 

“You have a wife?” Nathan sneered. 

“/Ex/-wife in every way that counts. Just never bothered to track each other down to make it official,” he pointed out. “But it looks like you two have enough on your plates here without prying into my personal life so…I’m gonna just leave you to it.” He might have been a little more open if Nathan hadn’t been there. Or even if he hadn’t started in with the attitude. He’d gotten the important part across to Audrey though so that was all that mattered. 

He made his way back to his boat and sure enough, there she was waiting for him. He tried to make it perfectly clear how completely uninterested he was in anything that she had to say, but she started trying to weasel her way in right off the bat, getting up close to him and being all seductive, but he wasn’t even the slightest bit tempted. He was more repulsed than anything and when she put her hand on his chest he grabbed it. “Stop,” he said coldly, pulling her hand away only for her to try and hold his hand and he had to yank it back. When she started in him about still being mad after so long, he latched onto that excuse. He wasn’t really. He would never forgive her for it, but he wasn’t actually /mad/ anymore. It wasn’t like he could tell her that he was in a committed relationship though. It would raise far too many questions and make things more than a little difficult. 

Duke had completely failed at getting her out of town, but at least he got her away from him for the moment only for her to pop back up a couple hours later while he was trying to fix the deck lights at the Gull. When she started in on how he owed her, he couldn’t help but laugh derisively, even as she reminded him of the time she saved his life. Like that could make up for everything else she’d done to him. “I don’t know how to make this any more clear. I don’t want to be in business with you. I don’t want to be in bed with you. I don’t want anything to do with you,” he said as obviously as he could manage. He’d learned that lesson a long time ago even if he hadn’t had Audrey. The job that she’d taken without asking him that involved crossing lines she knew he never would was bad enough. Trying to blackmail him in so many ways into taking it, even resorting to emotional blackmail was worse. Finding her in bed with their business partner though…that was the last straw for him and there wasn’t a chance in hell that he would ever have anything else to do with her again after that. 

Duke was almost glad when he got roped into helping with the case and found himself scrutinizing the other Audrey curiously, trying to figure her out, but at least it kept him away from Evi. For a while at least. And led him right into another preaching by the rev who was actually talking about starting a freaking war and Duke really hoped he meant figuratively. When he started in on how if Duke didn’t choose a side then one would choose him, he resisted the urge to tell him that he’d already chosen his side. With Audrey. Whichever side that was in whatever crap was going on and he resented the comparison of him to a lamb. 

He had just turned around to put that craziness behind him when another kind walked up and he groaned. Could he never get a damn break? At least now he was certain that Evi was already working with the rev. How else would she have ended up here at this particular moment? He considered making a run for it but decided to save his dignity. Especially since Audrey was walking up too. Both of them. She opened with a smart-ass comment, as she always did and Duke sighed heavily. “Nathan, Audrey, this is Evi.” 

“Evi Crocker,” she added with a smirk. 

“So you weren’t imagining things then,” Audrey said amusedly. “This is your wife?” She was glad that she got a chance to meet her at least even if Duke was suddenly dragging her away. Maybe she could get a few more insights into Duke from her if she stuck around for a while. 

When Duke once again failed to get her to leave town, even going so far as to admit that he did still care about her. Just enough to not want her to end up dead like she would if she stayed, he resigned himself to the fact that he was stuck with her. That didn’t mean he had to let her get too close though and when she started angling for staying on his boat once she realized the apartment above the Gull was taken, he shot that down really fast. Then he let her know that he’d changed the locks since the last time she was on the boat and he’d never trusted her with the emergency access hatch. He stuck around the Gull long enough to make sure that the ‘real’ Audrey wasn’t going to point fingers when the feds showed up before he headed back to the boat and made sure that all the doors were locked behind him to call the future Audrey.


	17. Chapter 17

“You would not believe the day I’ve had,” Duke said wearily as soon as Audrey answered the phone.

“Biblical plagues and ex-wife drama?” she guessed. 

“To the extreme,” he huffed. “And thank you very much for the heads-up. I would be a wreck right now if I’d been hit with that cold.”

“You’re welcome,” she said with a smile. “You want to talk about it?”

“Just…she just walked up like nothing ever happened. She even tried to say that I /owed/ her. Like saving my life /once/ could even begin to make up for that job she tried to force me to take. Hell, it couldn’t even make up for finding her in bed with the closest thing to a best friend I had,” Duke said, just needing to get it off his chest. 

Audrey sucked in a sharp breath. “I didn’t know that part.” 

“Which part?” Duke asked. 

“I knew about the job and all the ways she tried to force you to take it when you wouldn’t, but you never told me that she cheated on you,” Audrey said sympathetically. Everything made so much more sense now. He wasn’t the type to hold grudges normally and she figured it was just the fact that it was a betrayal by someone he trusted that kept him holding that one, but the betrayal was far worse than she knew. It also made the fact that he was willing to go out on a limb and trust her even more special. 

“Probably didn’t want you to know how much of an idiot I was to fall for it,” he sighed. He might not have mentioned it now if not for the fact that he thought she already knew. 

“You’re not an idiot, Duke,” she assured him. “We’ve all been played at some time or another.” 

“Including you?” he asked curiously, wanting something to get his mind off his own problems. 

“Not in that way since you’re really the only serious relationship I’ve had, but yeah, I’ve been played in other ways. Right before I came back actually,” she told him and gave him the whole story of what happened with William and how stupid she’d been to fall for his amnesia act and let him get her right where he wanted her. 

That did make Duke feel a little better, not that he would admit it, so he just moved on. “When she started coming on to me, I wanted nothing more than to tell her about you and why she would never succeed. I hate that we have to keep this hidden.” 

“I hate it too. I would give anything just to be able to love you openly. It’s only four more months though. Once the barn incident is over, we can come out in the open,” she said.

“I’m counting down the days. Even with as hard as it will be to say goodbye to the current version of you.” 

“Me too,” she said with a smile. 

“How are we going to work it though? I mean…if people know you left with the barn and then you show back up…do we have a cover story or do we need to work on one?” This was a subject he could get behind. Planning for their lives post troubles. A reminder of the light at the end of the tunnel. 

“Well, that’s going to depend on whether you want to stay in Haven or not,” she told him. “If we’re leaving Haven then there’s no need to worry about it.”

“Do /you/ want to leave Haven?” he asked. 

“Honestly, I don’t know,” she shrugged as she leaned back in the porch swing, rocking gently. “I mean, my home is wherever you are and leaving would make it easier in that way. On the other hand, what would I even do anywhere else? It’s not like I can get a job without a valid ID and definitely not a law enforcement job claiming to be Audrey Parker.” 

Duke knew better than to offer to get her involved with his less legitimate business ventures. If she asked then he would do it in a second, but he would let her set her own lines there. “I think we should try and figure out how we’d work it if we stayed in Haven then and go from there. Work out some options.” 

“If we’re staying, I don’t see any reason to have a cover story per se,” she suggested. “For the people who don’t know about the barn, they don’t have to know that anything is different and for those that do, we can just tell the truth. The danger will be over and any future knowledge I have would be useless at that point.”

“You’re not worried about the guard going after Nathan for what he /would have/ done?” Duke asked. 

“We don’t have to tell them that part. We can keep that between ourselves, though telling Nathan will be necessary to explain why we didn’t trust him with the secret. As far as anyone else is concerned, there was an unspecified accident that destroyed the barn in the first timeline that we prevented this time.”

“Okay I could see that. You would still need to watch your back though. From some of the stories you tell about the crazier guard members they might still be after you ‘just in case’,” Duke pointed out. 

“That’s true. I think the fact that the troubles will be gone should keep them from getting out of hand, but it’s still a risk,” she agreed. 

“Risk aside, it sounds like staying in Haven is our best bet then,” Duke decided. 

“Maybe. But it’s not just /my/ choice remember? This is about what you want too,” Audrey told him. 

“Like you said, my home is wherever you are,” he told her. “And it’s not like I would be trapped there all the time. I would still be travelling for business too. With you, if you ever wanted to take the time off work and come along. I wouldn’t get you involved in anything you didn’t want to be involved in of course, but you could still enjoy the trip and see some sights wherever the job takes me.” 

“I might just do that. We’ll see how things settle,” she smiled. 

“So, staying in Haven then?” Duke asked. 

“Yeah. We’ll stay in Haven,” she agreed. 

“Now I just need to find a way to keep Evi at bay until we can come out in the open,” he sighed, remembering how this conversation started. 

“I wish I had some ideas for you,” she said apologetically. “If it helps, things are going to be moving pretty fast for the next few months so it should limit her chances at least.” 

“If moving fast meant anything other than trouble disasters I might be a little more relieved to hear that,” he chuckled. 

“Oh and one thing I forgot to mention before. When the ‘real’ Audrey Parker asks you to take her out to Kick ‘Em Jenny Neck, do your best not to,” she told him. “If she forces the matter I know you might not have a choice so if you do, try to stay with her. I don’t know what happened to her out there, but she ended up losing all of her memories.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best,” he promised. “You know how feds are though. If you don’t do what they want they pull out the blackmail,” he reminded her amusedly, remembering all the times she pulled that with him at the start which started a long string of reminisces before they called it a night. 

A few days later the next crisis hit and Duke was, once again, one of the first at the scene. He was walking out of the back room of the store with a case of specialty beer when he walked around the corner and saw hit. Audrey wrapped around Nathan and kissing him. And not the current timeline Audrey either. The one with darker hair. /His/ Audrey. He felt his heart being ripped out of his chest and he turned to walk away. It wasn’t until he realized that everyone was running away or otherwise reacting in fear too that his rational mind caught up to him and he realized that it must be a trouble. Even if Audrey /would/ ever do that to him, she was in hiding. She couldn’t be seen in town and Nathan would definitely question the change to her hair. 

When he noticed Nathan and Audrey already pulling up, apparently having been called by someone else, he started walking down the street, but Nathan called him to wait. Duke clenched his teeth and took a few deep breaths for calm before he turned around. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t real. Facing Nathan and even this Audrey after that was not something he could deal with easily. He didn’t let them see that though and answered their questions. Some of them at least. The ones not related to what he’d seen. When he finally got away, he pulled out his phone and called /his/ Audrey. “So I just left a near riot at the store.”


	18. Chapter 18

Audrey knew that it was another trouble, but couldn’t quite remember which one it would be right now. “What happened?” 

“Well one guy was talking about a dog trying to attack him, another woman was screaming about a zombie…”

“Oh yeah. The fear trouble,” she remembered. “There’s a girl that whenever you look at her you see your greatest fear.” 

“Huh. That makes sense,” Duke said finally starting to feel that knot in his chest loosen. At least now he knew what his greatest fear was. 

“What did you see?” she asked, noticing that he had avoided that when he was telling her about what happened.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” he told her. He didn’t even want to think about it right now. 

“Okay. You’ll tell me when you come out tomorrow? Assuming you can make it?” she asked hopefully. 

“Sure. Tomorrow,” he gave a lukewarm agreement. Maybe by then it wouldn’t be hitting him so hard. “Anything I need to be doing with this mess?” 

Audrey considered that for a moment before telling him, “It’s best if this one plays out just like it did last time.” Sure a building was lost, but they could make sure there were no people inside this time and the girl with the fear trouble lost her trouble when the other guy died. She knew that Nathan wouldn’t hesitate to take his trouble back to save her from hers just like last time. 

“Okay then how did I play it last time?” he asked. He’d long realized that this whole having a time traveler on tap thing was messing with his head big time. He was second guessing everything and wondering what little change could have big consequences so it was easier if she just told him what he needed to do. He would be more than glad when her future knowledge was pointless in a few months and they could just relax and be. 

She told him the whole story, as much as she knew of his interactions with his old friend who she couldn’t remember the name of right now, and as expected he hated the fact that he would have to let him die, but the fact that he was willing to destroy the entire town and everyone in it and refused to be talked down helped his conscience a bit. She didn’t usually give him a play by play of how to handle things, trusting that he’d manage it just fine on his own, but this one was tricky and would require the right timing to get everyone in place for the trouble switches. 

Her next call was to the chief to tell him the same information she’d told Duke and how it had to play out, along with letting him know what building needed to be cleared of people very soon. She didn’t have the exact timetable unfortunately and just hoped they wouldn’t be too late. She could only content herself with the fact that if they were too late then there was nothing she could have done to save them anyway. Well other than remembering the exact date of what happened beforehand, but that was a little unreasonable. Maybe she should think about starting a journal just in case she was ever in this kind of situation again. 

Duke call that night was late and shorter than usual, but he did let her know that it all worked out the way she intended. By the time they hung up, she was more than a little worried. She guessed that Duke hadn’t seen the tattooed man this time since he didn’t even know about him, but clearly whatever he saw threw him for a major loop. She just hoped that he would tell her tomorrow and she could help him come to terms with it. The Duke from the future would have been easy. It would have been something related to his trouble or even killing his brother, but this one didn’t have those kinds of burdens so she couldn’t even begin to guess. 

The next morning found her sitting on the deck with her coffee and she didn’t move, watching for Duke to get there. She knew that it was too early, but she was too worried to do anything else. As soon as she saw the Rouge come into view, she headed out to the end of the dock to meet him, not missing the fact that he was about an hour earlier than usual. When he pulled up to the dock, he didn’t throw her the line like he usually did. Instead he reached for her hand and pulled her into the boat and into a hard desperate kiss. She eagerly returned it, tangling her hands in his now shaggy hair as he turned her and pressed her against the side of the boat, sliding her up so that she was sitting on the gunwale. 

Only the fact that this place was so secluded and it was still warm enough kept her from protesting as the clothes started coming off. She was more than into it though, meeting every motion, matching every desperate grasp of hands and press of lips and teeth and tongues as they had sex right there on the edge of the boat. Once they were both spent, Duke leaned his forehead against her shoulder, trying to catch his breath. “Not that I’m complaining in the slightest, but what was that about?” she asked gently, carding her fingers through his hair and kissing his head. 

Duke took a deep shaky breath and pulled himself away from her as he said, “Sorry. I just…”

“Hey,” she stopped him, grabbing his hand and pulling him back, looping her arms over his neck and leaning their foreheads together. “You have nothing to apologize for. Like I said, not complaining. Just curious.” 

Duke nodded, moving his hands to her waist and just breathing in her presence. “You asked what I saw yesterday…with the fear trouble…”

“Yeah…” she said leadingly wondering where this was going. 

“I saw…you and Nathan. Not the other you. /This/ you. You were…” he couldn’t even get any more words out than that and hoped she got the point. 

“Oh, Duke,” she said sadly. “And you didn’t even know what was going on yet…I can’t imagine how you must have felt.” 

“It was stupid,” he shrugged. “I mean, I know you couldn’t even be in town at all, much less with him like that in public and…”

She cut him off with a slow loving kiss. “And all the rationality in the world couldn’t help if your heart is too hurt to think of it when faced with something like that,” she said softly, brushing her hands down his cheeks and her thumbs over his cheekbones. “I’m sure you already know this, but probably still need to hear it right now, but you are the /only/ one for me, Duke. I love you with my entire being and I would die before I ever hurt you like that.” 

Duke took a few steadying breaths, getting lost in her eyes as she spoke and the weight that he wasn’t even aware that he was still carrying started to lift off his shoulders. “I know,” he whispered. “But thank you.” He really had needed to hear it right now. Between this and all the memories that Evi’s presence was bringing up, he was a bit of an emotional wreck at the moment and he loved that she could understand and accept that so easily. They stood there for a few more minutes as he got himself together before the started getting dressed again. By that point the boat had drifted away from the dock so it took a minute for him to get her back into position and Audrey hopped out with the lines to tie her off while Duke shut down the engines and everything. 

Lunch was spent with quite a bit more touching than usual. Just reaching over for a brush of hands or a twirl of hair. Little reassuring touches that Audrey used to banish the last of Duke’s tension before they headed back out to the deck swing to enjoy the nice afternoon and she draped herself half over his lap and curled up to his side. It was a little while before either of them spoke and Duke was the one to break the silence. “This has been the absolute crappiest week,” he sighed. 

“I know,” she said sadly. “I wish I could tell you it would get better.”

“But it won’t. At least not for another four months anyway,” Duke knew. 

“Unfortunately not,” she said sadly, and they just enjoyed the rest of the afternoon together in companionable silence.

When they got up so that he could go start making dinner, he brought up the recent future. “Any ideas what the FBI lady is gonna try and blackmail me with to make me take her out to the neck?” 

“Yes and no. She’s going to offer you a map to something that was hidden regarding your family,” she told him. “I don’t know if she has more than that she can use if that doesn’t work, but I doubt it.”

“And this map is something I should leave alone until the right time anyway?” Duke asked disgruntled. 

“No, actually. You need to get the map. And follow it. The reason I can’t tell you is because it’s something that you have to find on your own,” she told him. 

“So get the map, but do it without giving her what she wants?” Duke wanted to clarify exactly what she was asking for here. When she nodded, he told her, “You realize that will most likely involve stealing it?” 

“I know,” she sighed. “And if I knew where it was hidden myself I would tell you and save you the trouble but I don’t. And I would rather keep her from being hurt than quibble about stealing a piece of paper.” 

“Fair enough,” Duke agreed. “So get this map and follow the quest it sends me on. Sounds fun,” he said sarcastically. If he didn’t have such a foreboding feeling about what he would find it might actually be fun. 

“I’m not really sure where it will send you or what you’ll find other than the last piece. I was a little wrapped up in my own thing at the time and you never gave me a lot of details about it, so I won’t be able to help much unfortunately,” she said regretfully. 

“That’s okay. Like you said, it’s my quest and I have to figure it out on my own.” There was a little more talk about what was coming up before they moved to the bedroom.


	19. Chapter 19

By the time Duke left Audrey the next morning, he was feeling much steadier and he just hoped that it lasted. Not likely with Evi around and him about to embark on some quest to find his family secrets or something like that, but at least now he knew that he could lean on Audrey when it got to be too much. First, he had to wait for the FBI Audrey to approach him with the map though which, unfortunately, gave Evi plenty of time to irritate him since that didn’t happen until Thursday. He turned FBI Audrey down and reluctantly accepted Evi’s help to break into her car to get it. Someone had to distract her, and it needed to be done before she locked it back in whatever dark corner it came from. 

It wasn’t until later that night when he found out that she had just found someone else to take her out there and still ended up missing her memories and he hated breaking it to Audrey on their nightly phone call that night. The next morning, he also took the current timeline Audrey coffee to try and cheer her up. He knew that she would be pretty broken up over what happened and need a shoulder. It was the first time he had a chance or a reason to start the habit since she’d moved in two weeks ago. He could see why it had become a habit. It was nice to just share that quiet time with her in the midst of all the drama going on constantly. That was something that he usually only got with the other Audrey. 

He had barely made a start on decoding the map before he made his next trip to the safehouse, and part of their afternoon was spent with Audrey helping him figure it out. He didn’t even bother going back to Haven after leaving her and headed straight to the island in the map and much to his dismay, ran into Evi there. He was more than a little irritated that she had copied the map but she didn’t leave him a choice but to accept her help and they managed to dig up an old floorboard pointing them towards something called the Rasmussen House, whatever that meant. 

Duke had only been gone for a few hours when Audrey’s phone rang. “What’s up Chief?” 

“There was just a massive electrocution at a little league ball game,” he told her, hoping that she could fill in some blanks before any kids actually got hurt next time. 

“Right. Let me think for a second,” she said, getting her mind wrapped around it and considering the consequences of changing anything before deciding that it didn’t matter much in this case. “This one is two-pronged. There is an electricity trouble that caused the incident at the ball game. I can’t remember the name of the troubled person, but she’s a nurse and was having an affair with the mayor. Unless you can stop it, the mayor is going to die when he goes to make a speech outside the hospital. His wife rigs his microphone to electrocute him in revenge for the affair, framing the troubled person for it.” 

“Okay. I’m on it,” the chief told her before hanging up and heading immediately to the hospital. The way that man made speeches it could happen any minute. They didn’t have anyone in the area at the moment so he was as close as anyone that could there. He ended up being just barely too late though, pulling up just as the mayor fell. At least he didn’t have to let anyone get away with it and got everyone back from the scene while he and the two officers he had follow him checked all the lines, finding the sabotage quickly. 

It ended up taking another day before they managed to find the evidence against the wife and he was handling that aspect while Nathan and Audrey worked on the troubled person side and he managed to arrest her at the wake the next night. On his way out he caught sight of Duke and did a double take at him. First of all, the fact that he was at an event like this in the first place was a new one on him, not to mention that he was actually in a suit and tie. He put it out of his mind though and kept walking. He would figure out what him and the future Audrey were cooking up later. 

When Duke called Audrey that night and relayed his frustration about getting nothing out of Vince and Dave about Rasmussen House, she asked him if he tried the chief. “I’m an idiot,” Duke huffed a laugh. 

“No, just not used to asking for help the direct way from people who would actually help you,” she pointed out amusedly. 

“That too,” Duke chuckled. “I’ll ask him tomorrow. Even if he doesn’t know at least he’ll be more likely to get an answer from Vince and Dave.”

“You looked nice in your suit at the wake,” she told him, knowing that her current self would never have done so. 

“You noticed huh?” he asked smugly. 

“I don’t think there’s ever been a time that you’ve been around that I haven’t noticed you, Duke,” she told him. “You know that from the moment we met there’s always been…something. No matter how long it took us to get it figured out.” 

“Yeah, I know,” he told her. He’d always noticed her too, sometimes even before he consciously knew she was there. “Speaking of getting us figured out…what’s up with you and Chris Brody? He was watching you all night.” And figuring that much out without getting caught in the wash of the attraction trouble had been tricky. 

“Oh god,” Audrey groaned, leaning her head back against the couch. “I forgot about him.”

“Must not have been very memorable then,” Duke joked. 

“Honestly? Not really,” she laughed. “But I never said that.” 

“Of course, you didn’t,” he agreed amusedly. 

“Chris and I had a…I don’t even know if you can call it a fling. There was a little flirting and then we were together for like four days before he left town. He got back about a week later and it crashed and burned quickly,” she told him. She wanted him to know what to expect and to be prepared for that. Especially after his reaction to his fear. “You gonna be okay?” she asked worriedly. If she could go out there and make her past self end it before it began she would, but that wasn’t an option. 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he assured her. He could almost hear her skepticism in the silence that followed so he added, “Okay maybe not /fine/ but I’ll manage. In this situation, she’s not you and that helps.”

“Okay. And feel free to call me or even make an extra trip out if you can if you need to talk or anything,” she told him. “I’m here anytime you need me.” It wasn’t like she had anything better to do after all. Even with the books and movies that Duke kept shuttling out every few weeks she was more than a little bored. She’d even started watching soaps for a while before she realized what she was doing and forced herself out of that rabbit hole. 

“I appreciate that more than you know,” he said touched. He wondered for the first time how much if anything she knew about his past before deciding that it probably wasn’t much. If they’d only been together for a few weeks before she came back here and with as busy and awful as those few weeks had been, there was very little chance of him opening up about his awful childhood. Maybe one of these days he would fill her in and she might start to understand just how much her constant unwavering support meant to him. It definitely wasn’t a conversation for the phone though, so he changed the subject to lighter topics. 

The next day, he talked to the chief who led him to the Rasmussen house and he waited until nighttime to break in only to find that Evi had beaten him to it, but thankfully hadn’t found what he was looking for yet. He wasn’t surprised that she’d lied to him about getting anything from Vince which was part of the reason he’d been so stressed about not having anything himself. He was more than a little frustrated to find that it was just a small silver box that didn’t even have anything inside it but a stupid inscription. How many more parts of this damn quest were there? 

He managed to get himself on the list for a high profile wedding two days later supplying the wine, but his main purpose there was to talk to the head of the historical society about the box. See if he could find anything out. This time, the chief had been his first stop, but had nothing, so he would have to dig. He didn’t even bother with Vince and Dave. He wasn’t sure why he was surprised that the wedding turned into trouble central and when the current timeline Audrey asked him to go check the upstairs part of the barn and scope the area out, he quickly agreed if only to get some privacy to make a phone call. He didn’t even wait for future Audrey to say anything when she answered before he whispered, “Trapped in a barn by some kind pissed off plant.” 

“Okay, stay calm,” she reminded herself as much as him. “Everything is going to work out.” This was the first time she was faced with a call while he was in active danger. 

“Okay, how?” he asked in the same strangled whisper, watching for anyone coming. 

“The two old people, I can’t remember their names…”

“Since when can you remember /anyone’s/ names,” Duke couldn’t help but joke despite the situation. 

“Point,” she chuckled. “But they’re each from one of the families. They were going to get married when they were young but there was a big misunderstanding and she thought he killed her brothers but he was attacked along with them…it’s a long story, but basically you need to get them reunited and their love weakens the thing enough to let everyone else through.”

“Okay, get the old people together. That’s all you had to say,” Duke chuckled. 

“Who are you talking to?” Evi asked as she came up.


	20. Chapter 20

“Gotta go,” Duke said quickly as he hung up. “No one,” he told Evi. 

“You think I’m stupid?” she scoffed. 

“No, I think it’s none of your business,” he shot back. 

“But we’ve been working so well together,” she tried to weasel in yet again. 

“No. You’ve been stalking me so well,” he pointed out as he at least pretended to be doing what he came up here to do and check out the door. 

“You know you’ve changed right?” she asked him with a smile, sauntering a little closer. “Just…looking out for other people and…taking one for the team. It’s…it’s nice.” 

“Thank you…I think,” Duke said confusedly. This wasn’t at all like the Evi he knew. Normally she would be mocking him for it, which meant that she was playing an angle and he needed to find out what it was if he was going to counter it. 

“You know, I can change too,” she told him as she walked slowly over to him. “We don’t have to keep doing this. I mean, you tell me you want to go and we’re gone. No more Haven. No hustle. No regrets,” she all but whispered. 

Now he got it. It was all about sucking him back in. That was all. He would play along to a point. Hopefully enough for her to slip up. “It’s not that simple,” he told her. 

“There’s this little town in Mexico called bhadada navidad. We could live on the beach. The money from the box would keep us for a few years…” 

“Let me think about it,” Duke said, making it look like he was tempted and maybe in another life he might have been, but not now. Now he was just playing her as much as she was trying to play him. He made a quick check out the door before heading back downstairs to find the two people that they needed to try and get together in the middle of an argument and the vines rushing inside and heading for Audrey and he quickly tackled her out of the way, not missing the way she stayed close almost clinging to him as they waited for the plant to go away. It was almost like it took one look at them and retreated. Apparently, love was the way to fight this thing after all. Not that he doubted her for a second of course. 

Audrey figured out the same thing, though she tried not to think too hard about what it meant that she and Duke together were able to repel it, but it was still enough to give her an idea. She pulled Chris aside to explain it and when she got to the part about wondering how they were going to end a feud that had been going on for generations, Duke jumped in, having been eavesdropping. “If you ask me, the two old folks fight like jilted lovers. Maybe start there. As close to the beginning as you can.” 

“That’s…actually not a bad idea, Duke. Thank you,” Audrey told him, getting a nod before Duke turned and headed back to the rest of the group. 

Duke had given her the hint she needed, but he didn’t really like seeing her and Chris together. Especially after that confirmation that it was him she loved, not Chris, so he made his escape as quickly as he could and left the rest for her to figure out. This was her specialty after all. It took a little while to get through all the misunderstandings but they finally got it and then Audrey had the bright idea for everyone to pair up to get out and he was left with Evi while Audrey was with Chris. 

By the time he got back to the boat, he had figured out how to play things with Evi and invited her inside for a drink and told her that he couldn’t leave Haven. She got upset and accused him of staying for Audrey and he told her honestly that it wasn’t about Audrey. That wasn’t why he had to stay in Haven anyway. It was why he would never be with her. He gave her a little bit of information about how his dad made him promise to come back but never told him why and then he walked out, waiting just around the corner to see what she did with the information. 

Sure enough, she immediately made a phone call, presumably to the rev and told him that his dad never told him. Which meant that Evi or the rev or both already knew what secret it was that he was chasing and that just pissed him off even more. Sure Audrey was keeping it a secret but she told him that much and she told him why. This was different. This was behind his back manipulation and he hated it. He was glad that he’d decided to keep Evi close by giving her a job at the Gull tending bar once he realized that he wasn’t getting rid of her. It made it easier to keep an eye on her which would definitely come in handy. 

He still didn’t have much more information than he’d already had when he went to see Audrey that weekend, and all she could tell him was to try and keep her away from the police station since that’s where she’d died. Neither of them ever figured out much of what her game was in the last timeline so at this point it was just about keeping her alive and trying to figure it out along the way. There was very little talk about anything not each other during this visit. She didn’t have much to tell him and he just wanted to enjoy being with her while he could. Watching the other version of her with Chris Brody had been as difficult as he anticipated and he needed to remind himself that she was still his. No matter what phases her past self was going through. 

Audrey saw no need to tell him about the time loop she would be stuck in on Tuesday. There was nothing he could do to help when he wouldn’t even remember it. She only remembered the day because of his ridiculous Taco Tuesday sign that he was drawing every morning of the loop and she had been with Chris when it happened which meant it was this week. She couldn’t remember what the next trouble was after that, but she was sure she would once it came up. For the time being though, it was just about being with him. She couldn’t wait until they could be together all the time instead of just stealing one day a week together. 

It was on Friday when Audrey got a call from the chief. “Do you know where the merkids are being held?” he asked before she even had a chance to open her mouth. 

“Oh crap. Yeah. It’s an abandoned farmhouse on…on…” she wracked her brain trying to remember. “Route seventeen. About a mile outside of town.”

“I know the one,” Garland told her. “What can I expect there?” 

“Last time it was just the woman and the kids, but she was in the process of trying to get help from the rev and his men to defend them, so I can’t promise that she didn’t get them this time.” 

“Thanks. You might have just saved those kids’ lives,” he told her before hanging up and getting everyone mobilized. 

When Duke got there the next day, he told her, “So, I had an easy week this week trouble-wise.”

“Yeah there were a couple, but nothing your expertise was needed for,” she chuckled. 

“It’s nice not to be dragged into /every/ disaster this town has,” he said amusedly. “I’m curious though. Any ideas why your past self has been so much more…accommodating, shall we say?”

Audrey smiled, but with a hint of grief at the memory. “I’m sure I’ve mentioned the time loop I was stuck in?” she asked and he nodded. “Well that was this week and…and I watched you die in one of the loops.”

“Oh,” Duke said somberly, almost dropping the spoon into the pot her was stirring at those words. “I guess that would do it.”

“I know you don’t remember it, but the next loop after that, I ran downstairs, only mostly dressed, and jumped into your arms, so glad to see you alive again that I almost kissed you despite the fact that Chris was right there,” she chuckled at the memory. “You were so confused but seemed happy enough for the attention so that’s when I stopped holding back as much around you.” 

“Yeah, I noticed that you were reaching out more and you even leaned on me once. I caught myself before I reacted like I do with you though, but only barely,” he chuckled. 

“As long as you give it another week for Chris to be gone, that version of me won’t mind a bit how you react. Seeing you die was the wake up call I needed to realize how much I loved you,” she told him. 

“We’ll see what happens,” Duke told her. He was still playing the whole thing with the current timeline Audrey by ear. He couldn’t deny that he loved her, but that didn’t mean that being with her felt the same. It was similar. She was just as easy to be with, and maybe the only difference was the way that he had to hold himself back so much around her, but time would tell there as she continued to loosen up more.


	21. Chapter 21

Duke got embroiled in another mess the day after he got back from the hideaway when one of the kids he had bussing tables ended up being chased by a gunman. He was sure that Audrey would have warned him if this turned out badly, so he was relatively certain they’d be okay as he chased the guy down, meeting up with Nathan and Audrey at the abandoned resort. It ended up being a clusterfuck and Audrey had nearly given him a heart attack when she went out there unarmed to talk the guys down but worked out okay. 

He found out that he had missed Evi pulling something while he’d been gone though, and that was the last straw for his temper. He dragged her out to the boat for some privacy and completely lost his temper at her in a way he almost never did. Between all the stress he’d been dealing with and the way she’d been playing him since she got her and getting on his last nerve, it just boiled over. He knew he’d feel bad for screaming at her later. When she ran out in tears, he realized that he was wrong. There was no later about it. He already felt like a dick. He tried to remind himself that she’d played this game with him before. Fake tears to make him feel guilty for getting mad about something that he had every right to be mad about until he came crawling back with apologies. He wasn’t going to do that this time though. No matter how badly he felt. 

He really regretted that when her body was found the next day though. She’d been shot in the heart. He tried not to be offended when he ended up being the first suspect, but some of it still slipped through. After all this time he would think that people knew he wasn’t a killer. He was sitting in an interrogation room after the third time he’d told his story to Nathan, interrogations in which Audrey was suspiciously absent, when Garland walked in and sat across from him. “I don’t think you did this,” Garland told him honestly. 

“Thank you,” Duke said throwing up his hands in relief. “Does that mean I can go now?” 

“I can’t just let you go based on my gut,” Garland told him. “Do you have an alibi for six pm last night?” 

“Not one I can share publicly,” Duke said pointedly. 

“One I can check with privately?” Garland asked hopefully. The quicker they could get this thing cleared up the sooner they could get looking for the /actual/ killer. When Duke just nodded, he knew who and what that meant so he moved on. “Is there anything you can tell us that can point us in the right direction. You told Nathan that you did have a fight with her. What about?” 

“She’s been working with the rev to try and manipulate me for something, but she wouldn’t tell me what. Just that it was for my own good and was supposed to save me from something. I told her she was an idiot if she actually believed that and she said something about getting the information I needed as she ran out,” Duke gave him a little more information than he’d given Nathan. “That’s the last time I saw her.”

“Okay. That gives us a place start,” Garland gave him a grateful nod. “Sit tight and give me a few minutes to verify your alibi and I’ll have someone release you.”

“Thank you,” Duke said earnestly. 

When Garland walked out, he was cornered by Nathan. “He didn’t even tell you his alibi. How are you going to confirm it?” 

“He did tell me. Just not out loud,” Garland told him. “There’s more than one way to communicate you know.” 

Nathan nodded slowly, figuring that Duke must have slipped him a note or written with his finger on the table where he couldn’t see or something, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Duke and his father were sharing some kind of big secret that he wasn’t in on and he didn’t like it. There wasn’t anything he could do about it right now though. He did stay right there while his father pulled out his phone and made the call, even if he could only hear one side of it the conversation. 

Garland didn’t give Audrey a chance to say anything before he said, “We need to confirm an alibi for Crocker. When’s the last time you saw him?” 

Audrey felt her insides turn to ice at the thought of what could have happened. And what Duke must be going through being accused of it and apparently arrested. “I last saw him Sunday morning around nine thirty am.” She had caught the stress on the word we, so tried to disguise her voice in case someone else was listening. 

“What about talking to him?” Garland asked. 

“We talked on the phone yesterday from…” she paused to check her call log. “Five eighteen pm until six thirty eight pm.”

“And he was present and speaking with you the entire time on the phone?” he asked. 

“Yes, he was,” she told him. 

“Did you hear any noises that could indicate a struggle or any gunshots?” 

“No, I didn’t. It was a completely normal conversation.” 

“Did he mention anything about his wife?” Audrey heard Nathan’s voice in the background. 

“He said that they got in a fight about her working with Reverend Driscoll and that she stormed out,” Audrey said, glad now that she’d disguised her voice and she realized that Evi must have been killed by the rev’s men again, but this time in private so it would be blamed on the estranged husband who just had a big fight with her. 

With Nathan breathing down his neck, Garland knew that he would have to do due diligence here, so he asked, “You ever see him with a twenty-two rifle?” 

“No, he doesn’t even own one of those. His only rifle is a three oh eight,” she said honestly. “And he only uses that for hunting.” 

Even Nathan couldn’t argue with that. He’d seen Duke in a lot of tight spots and he’d never seen him go for a rifle. It was always either a pistol or his sawed off shotguns. He was pulled from his thoughts by his father saying, “Thank you for the info,” before he turned to Nathan and said, “Let Crocker go and start looking into Driscoll’s men.” Nathan didn’t miss the conspiratorial nod between Duke and his father once he let him go and decided to start paying more attention to what was going on. He wasn’t confronting anyone until he had something to start with. 

Audrey came in just as Duke got to the door and she hugged him tightly. “They let you go? Are you okay? I’m so sorry about Evi.”

“Where were you?” Duke had to ask. 

“Once Nathan decided you were the top suspect I was looking for evidence to clear you,” she told him. “I knew you didn’t do it, but it did look bad, so…”

“Thank you,” Duke told her, hugging her again since he didn’t participate last time, not knowing if she thought he was a murderer too. “But even Nathan knows the truth now. That I’m innocent. If you find out who did it though…”

“There will be no revenge around here. If we find out who did it, we will be arresting them and you will be staying out of it,” Garland said sternly. “And if I find out otherwise, you’ll be the one in a cell. Got it?” 

Duke gave him a tense nod before walking out and Audrey followed him, offering to drive him back to the boat since that’s where his truck was when he’d been arrested. He gladly took her up on it, but she had to get back to working the case so she couldn’t stay. He didn’t mind at all since he had a phone call to make. If the old man had really called Audrey for an alibi she was probably more than a little worried by now and he really needed to hear her voice too. Actually, on second thought, he needed to see her instead. He put the phone away and untied the mooring lines, headed for the hideaway. 

Audrey had been pacing the living room nervously waiting for her phone to ring. For either Duke or Garland to call her and explain what was going on. She had been so on edge that even when she wasn’t specifically listening for it, she heard the Rouge coming and dashed outside. It must be worse than she thought if he came here two days early rather than just call. This time she was the one to jump on the boat as soon as it was close enough and he just pulled her close, burying his face in her hair and breathing her in. She ran a hand comfortingly through his hair as the other rubbed his back. She didn’t ask any questions, knowing that he would talk when he was ready.


	22. Chapter 22

It wasn’t long before Duke pulled back enough to tie the boat off before it drifted too far again and then she led him to the futon on the deck of the boat, knowing that he was always more comfortable on the water and he needed as much comfort as he could get right now and they eventually shifted to where he was laying with his head in her lap while she played with his hair before he finally spoke. “I’m not sure which part is worse. The fact that the last time I saw her I screamed at her, the fact that she was killed, or the fact that some people actually thought that I did it.” 

“I know it doesn’t help much, but try to remember that you were mad at her for good reason. She was the one who chose to work with the people that killed her. And not everyone thought that you did it. The chief didn’t. I didn’t. I’m sure the current version of me didn’t. Just because some people see more with their grudges than their eyes doesn’t say anything about you,” she said gently. “You did everything you could reasonably be expected to do. You tried to get her to leave. You tried to warn her. You even kept her away from the situation that killed her last time. There was nothing more you could have done.” 

“I know,” Duke sighed. “But you’re right. It doesn’t help much.” 

“I wish I could do more,” she said sadly. 

“You are,” he said simply, catching her hand and pulling it over to press a kiss to the inside of her wrist before letting her go back to playing with his hair. Neither of them moved or spoke until the sun was already set and they went inside the boat and she cooked dinner for him for once. It was nowhere near as good as his meals. Just a simple spaghetti and garlic bread with sauce from a jar that she had to go in the house to get, but she knew that he wasn’t much up to cooking right now.

They were just sitting down to eat when her phone rang and she gave him an apologetic look as she answered, not saying anything in case Nathan was nearby again. “We got a situation,” he told her. 

“What kind of situation?” she asked worriedly, despite having a pretty good guess. 

“Some kind of black rash killing people here,” he told her. “You got any ideas?” 

“Yeah. It’s a blonde woman who came in to make a complaint. She has a habit of tearing the Styrofoam cups into tiny bits. She had an abusive husband she ran away from and changed her name and everything, but he just tracked her down. Last time around he was actually in the station. The doctor that came in,” Audrey told him. 

“I can work with that,” Garland told her. “And keep an eye on Crocker. I’m guessing he’s either with you or on his way since his boat was gone. He was here earlier so if he shows any signs…”

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” she promised. She was sure he would be fine though. 

“Keep an eye on me for what?” Duke asked as she hung up the phone. The first words he’d spoken in hours. 

“There’s a trouble killing people down at the station. It starts by turning your fingers black and spreads from there,” she told him and he immediately checked his fingers and then showed her and she nodded relieved. “Then you’re probably fine. It should have showed up by now if you were infected.” 

“Surprised I wasn’t the first target since I was there for being accused of killing my wife,” he muttered. 

“She never really had targets,” she told him. “It was just anyone she touched. She didn’t realize what she was doing.” She knew that his comment wasn’t actually about the trouble though. She just didn’t know what else to say about what he really meant. 

The rest of the dinner lapsed into silence but as she got up to clean up, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry.” 

“For what?” 

“Just…coming here to you, upset about the death of another woman and…”

“Hey,” she put her hands on his cheeks and pulled back to look him in the eyes. “I told you that I’m here for you no matter what, remember? And estranged or not, she was still your wife. You loved her once and I’m sure that some part of you always will and that’s okay,” she assured him. “It doesn’t bother me and I’m /glad/ you came to me. For this or anything else.”

Duke leaned forward and kissed her gently. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you, but I’m glad I did it,” he breathed out. 

“You were just you,” she told him, brushing her thumbs over his cheekbones. “That’s all I’ve ever needed to love you.” 

“I love you too, Audrey,” he whispered, giving her one more kiss before saying, “You cooked. I’ll clean up.” 

She could tell that he was feeling much more steady now and felt the need to be doing something, so she let him. “While you’re doing that then, I’ll go pack an overnight back so we can stay on the boat tonight?” she suggested getting a grateful nod from him. That night, for the first time since she’d come back to the past, they went to bed just to sleep. He wasn’t up to much more than that. 

The next morning was a different story though and he was almost back to his old self. Audrey could see the telltale signs of masks there, but she didn’t call him on it. She knew that this was how he coped. He wallowed for a day and then slept on it and pretended to be okay until he was. She knew now that he would lean on her if he needed to and that was good enough. That day they just enjoyed spending some time together and she was just present as he got his head on straight before he asked her to help him go through Evi’s things the next day. 

Audrey was the one who found the note in the box but didn’t open it and read it. She just handed it to him and let him read it. “Put it under my iguana light?” he asked confusedly as he headed over to do that and they both gasped when they saw the name Crocker illuminated on the lid. 

“I don’t suppose you can tell me anything about this? Some hint or clue. Something to tell me where to start?” he asked hopefully, not really up for a grand quest right now. 

She thought hard, trying to put together anything he might have mentioned at some point before she remembered something that Dave had said in passing once. “Take it to Vince and Dave. Vince won’t want to tell you anything, but when he tries to fob you off, Dave will tell you what you need to know. I remember them arguing about it once when they didn’t realize I was there. At least I think this is what they were talking about.” 

“That’s good enough. Thank you,” he told her gratefully and they went back to getting Evi’s stuff separated. 

“You know, I never thought to ask before…why do you have an iguana tank?” 

“Because I used to have an iguana,” Duke chuckled as though it should be obvious. “He died about two years ago. Old age. One day I’ll get another one.” 

“I don’t really know anything about iguanas. Are they good pets?” she asked curiously and the rest of the sorting was spent with stories about Abas the iguana. 

He ended up staying for three days this time, leaving at his normal time on Sunday morning. Over breakfast though he told her, “I’m sorry I didn’t bring you any groceries when I came. I can go grab some and come back or you can just grab what you need from the Rouge. I just went shopping for myself before all this mess so there should be enough.”

“I’ll grab from the Rouge,” she told him. “I don’t need much. There’s no need for you to make a whole extra trip just for that. I wouldn’t have expected you to think of groceries in that situation.” 

When Duke got back to town, he went shopping to restock the Cape Rouge with what Audrey had needed and heard the talk about the death of the rev and wondered what happened so he called the chief and got the full story. From the wendigo hunt to Audrey shooting him to save the girl. When he got back and put his groceries away, he noticed that Audrey was in her apartment so he headed up to talk to her and see how she was. 

“Are you here to yell at me for killing the rev too?” she asked defensively as she opened the door. 

“Why would I do that? As I understand it you were saving a kid that he was trying to kill. If ever there was a reason…It’s not like I’m gonna be shedding any tears over the bastard,” Duke told her. 

“Then come in,” she told him, opening the door to let him in. 

“Who yelled at you for it?” he asked gently as he sat down on the couch and she plopped next to him, leaning against his side as he draped his arm over the back of the couch. 

“Nathan mostly. But the chief wasn’t too happy either,” she admitted with a sigh. 

“The chief didn’t seem too bothered when I talked to him a little while ago,” he pointed out. “What makes you think he was mad?” 

“Talking about lighting the powderkeg this town has been sitting on and making him a martyr,” she told him. 

“I can see that,” Duke admitted. “But you did what you had to do regardless of the consequences. He told me as much.”

“Since when are you and the chief such good friends?” she asked curiously. 

“We are /not/ friends,” Duke huffed. “We’ve just ended up helping each other out of a few tight spots is all.”

“Okay. Fair enough,” she chuckled at his offense before changing the subject. “Where were you?” 

“Getting my head straight after everything,” he said cryptically. 

“I can understand that,” she said sadly leaning her head against his shoulder comfortingly, resisting the urge to tell him that they could have used his help. It wasn’t his job and he had every right to take a few days to himself. “I am sorry about Evi. If you need any help with arrangements…”

“I called her mom. She’s taking care of all that. I just have to get her stuff from here sent home,” Duke told her. “Thank you though.” He ended up sitting with her the rest of the day and even cooking her dinner to try and cheer her up before he headed back to the boat to call the future Audrey and update her. He would go and talk to Vince and Dave tomorrow.


	23. Chapter 23

The next morning, Duke went to talk to Vince and Dave, taking the box and the iguana light with him. He didn’t end up getting much. In fact, just a promise from Dave to find the information against Vince’s judgement. Duke was good at reading people. He had to be in his line of work. He knew that Dave was being genuine. He would come through with something. He just couldn’t tell him what exactly in front of Vince. He would give it a day before getting impatient. He’d noticed the future Audrey getting more on edge about the subject, so he guessed he was close and that it wouldn’t be long now. That didn’t stop him from puzzling over it for the rest of the day though and making a few more visits to people who might know something. 

When he got back to the boat not long after dark, he immediately noticed a flashlight moving around inside and jumped down to the lower deck, grabbing a hidden gun and heading inside quietly. Apparently he hadn’t been quiet enough though because the moment he stepped inside the gun was ripped from his hand and the fight was on. He wasn’t /losing/ exactly, but he definitely wasn’t winning either until he got his hand on an empty bottle he’d left on the table and broke it over the guy’s head and took the opportunity while he was reeling to scramble for the light so he could at least see what he was doing. Once the light was on and he saw who his opponent was, his brow furrowed in confusion. “Sasquatch?” he asked, almost hurt that he’d turned against him like this. They weren’t exactly friends. Barely knew each other really, but they’d worked together a few times. 

When he saw the box that had been knocked to the floor in the fight, and noticed that he wasn’t the only one who noticed it, they both dived for the box at the same time and the hinge got broken in the scramble which sent what looked like a key flying through the air. Duke only hesitated for a second before abandoning the box to dive after the key and Dwight snatched up both pieces of the box and looked like he was ready to fight for the key too. Duke grabbed his boat hook for a weapon only for Dwight to grab the sword that Duke kept hung over the doorway. Duke looked back and forth between the sword and boat hook for a moment before he lowered his weapon with a nervous laugh and said, “You know…we don’t talk enough me and you.” 

“This doesn’t have to get ugly. I walk out of here, it’s over,” Dwight told him, both of them panting for breath. 

“Great…if you don’t’ mind you can just leave the box in the umbrella stand on your way out,” Duke said wryly, knowing that it wouldn’t be that easy. 

“Give me the key,” Dwight said firmly. 

“Do I actually have to say no to that, or can I just assume it was a rhetorical statement?” 

“Funny,” Dwight huffed. 

“Vince sent you didn’t he,” Duke realized, wishing Audrey could have at least given him a heads up about this part. Of course, she might not have actually known. 

“If you say so,” Dwight replied cryptically. 

“Dave is helping me,” Duke told him. “So it begs the question…what’s so important about that thing that it’s got the two of them turning on each other?”

“I didn’t ask.”

“I think you did,” Duke said smugly. “And I think…that Vince clammed up on you. Come on…aren’t you even a little bit curious?” he coaxed, recognizing his best way out of this. 

“Alright so why don’t you tell me?” Dwight asked, not able to deny his curiosity. 

“I’d love to. But, uh…I don’t have a freaking clue,” Duke admitted. He could tell that the fight had gone out of Dwight, despite the fact that he still had the sword, so he walked over to the counter and put the boat hook down before grabbing two glasses to pour them drinks. “Vince and Dave know what it is. But they don’t want us to know. They’re playing us against each other.” He paused a moment to let that sink in. “So…do we go back to kicking each other’s asses…or do we find out the truth?” Duke asked, offering him a drink. 

Dwight considered for a moment before he took it and after a bit of conversation they agreed to meet back up in the morning to start digging. In the meantime, Dwight would hold onto the box and Duke would keep the key. When morning came around, Dwight was at the boat almost the moment the sun came up and Duke offered him coffee while they waited for about an hour for the Herald office to open so he could call Dave. There was no point in starting the conversation on a bad foot after waking him up. 

Duke easily wheedled the information that it came as part of a set and that there was a larger box somewhere. Once he had conned all the information he could from Dave he hung up and Dwight said, “Smooth.”

“Yeah it’s kinda what I do,” Duke reminded him. 

“Yeah…which makes me wonder if I’m making a mistake working with you,” Dwight said nervously. Duke was a conman. He made a living playing people. 

“You’re not,” Duke said simply. 

“Besides if I am, I can always change my mind.” He at least wanted it made clear that he had no loyalty to Duke and wasn’t going to allow himself to be manipulated. 

“Glad to see we’re on the same page,” Duke said wryly before they got down to brainstorming which led them to looking for Simon Crocker’s old boats. There were a couple confrontations when the new owners of the boats didn’t particularly like them digging around in the hard to reach places, but Duke’s charm and fast talking soon won them over. It wasn’t until the last one that they got the clue that they were looking in the wrong places and Duke found out that his boat had been arranged by his father before he died. Part of him actually hoped that was the big family secret, but he knew that was just wishful thinking. 

It was late by that point and the places that Duke would need to dig on the Rouge to find this thing were best explored in the light of day so they agreed to meet up the next morning to get started and once again, Dwight was there at the crack of dawn and they started digging. It was the middle of the day before Duke found what he thought was it and it took him a while to work the barrel out of the hole and Dwight helped him hoist it up. Opening the barrel found the second box and Duke didn’t hesitate to open it. They were just beginning their perusal when he heard Audrey call, “Duke!” as she rushed down the stairs to the deck.

“Audrey,” Duke said nervous and surprised.

“We need to talk,” she said seriously.

He hesitated a moment, looking back and forth between her, Dwight, and the box before walking over to her. “You are not going to believe what my father had hidden below decks.”

“Your father’s exactly why I’m here,” Audrey said quickly. “Lucy Ripley…I found her.”

“What? What did she say?” Duke asked, honestly happy for her. It meant that she was getting closer to figuring out her own puzzle and as someone going through the same thing he could relate to the struggle. 

“That she knew your father. That he visited her twenty-seven years ago.”

“Why? How did he know her?” Duke asked completely baffled. Were their quests linked somehow? Was that why the future Audrey was so intent on him figuring it out for himself alongside her?

“I don’t think that he did. I think he was looking for me,” she told him.

Duke was just about to respond when he caught movement from the corner of his eye and turned around with a drawled, “Wooow. Buddy. My feelings are actually hurt,” he said, stopping Dwight’s attempt to steal the box. “What happened to honor amongst thieves?” he asked gesturing with the long knife he’d pulled from the box.

“I said I might change my mind,” Dwight pointed out.

“Yeah. You did,” Duke said with a nod, glancing back at Audrey. “He did.” Just as he went to turn back around, his face met the box Dwight swung at him. He quickly steadied himself on the table, grabbing Dwight’s arm and instinctively slashing the knife. He wasn’t expecting it to hurt him as much as it did Dwight. The blood felt like it was burning him alive as he collapsed, shaking.

“Duke!” Audrey cried worriedly, rushing over to him. “Are you okay?” He tried to answer her, but he didn’t think it was actual words that came out. “Duke…” she said again warily as she saw the blood sink into his skin. “What’s going on?”

“I…I don’t know,” Duke ground out tensely through the pain.

Audrey sucked in a sharp breath as Duke’s eyes started to glow silver and was trying to figure out what was going on and if he was okay when she noticed Dwight coming for his back with a crowbar. “No!” she cried out in warning, gasping as Duke spun insanely fast, grabbed Dwight’s arm and threw a punch to his chest that had Dwight flying through the air well over the side of the boat and splashing down in the water. She ran over to the edge and looked at the water worriedly. “Where is he?” she asked in almost a panic.

Duke stumbled over, just as worried, though he tried not to show it. He scanned the water for a minute as he said, “Don’t worry. He’s a fricking army ranger. He’s fine.” Duke took a few deep breaths, trying to get his head back on straight before looking at her and trying to keep the fear from his voice as he said, “Did you see what I just did?”


	24. Chapter 24

No matter how well he hid his worry, Audrey could see it, which was the only reason that she wasn’t upset about his flippancy and she could see the barely concealed terror in his eyes at the realization of what he’d done. Another glance at the water showed Dwight surfacing and swimming towards the shore so she breathed a sigh of relief on that front and gave Duke her full attention. Fear over a newly discovered trouble was old hat to her, but seeing that fear in Duke’s face of all people gutted her. “You need to show me what’s in that box,” she said, more bluntly than she normally would in her efforts to keep her emotions from hurting him more. It didn’t even dawn on her until after she said it that he might consider it personal, being his father’s and all, but he didn’t hesitate to hand it to her before heading into the cabin. She hesitated a minute before following him. She could at least go through it and try to figure this thing out with him there and she didn’t think he needed to be alone right now.

Duke paced the cabin, trying to bend a crowbar, while Audrey went through the box, checking all the weapons. When he finally realized that he wasn’t going to bend it, he huffed. “Well whatever it was, it didn’t last very long.” He really needed to talk to the future Audrey about this, but wasn’t going to brush this one off to do so. He needed to see this through first. 

“It happened right after you cut Dwight,” Audrey pointed out, not sure if he realized that in all the commotion.

“Is there anything in that box that might actually tell us why?” Duke asked frustrated.

“Well, maybe this ledger? There’s some names, there’s some dates, hundreds of years old…Maybe it’s a Crocker family history,” she said gladly letting go as Duke yanked it out of her hands. It belonged to his family after all and it wasn’t like he wouldn’t share what he found with her if it was relevant. She watched as Duke flipped through it, and when she saw him slow down and get a confused look on his face, she asked, “Did you find something?”

“It’s just these last few pages, I…I feel like I recognize the writing. It’s probably just because it’s as bad as mine, but…” he trailed off as he realized what that meant and sat heavily, not even noticing how close he was to Audrey as she leaned up to read over his shoulder. “My father wrote this.”

“Duke, if you’re reading this, then I haven’t survived,” she read aloud before getting a confused look. “Wait, I thought…I thought that your dad died in an accident?”

“Yeah, I’m starting to think not,” he said wryly as he turned to look at her.

Their eyes met for a long moment before they both turned back to the book and she continued reading. “You are my son. You are my heir. It’s up to you to finish my work. You must…kill her,” she finished worriedly. Duke didn’t say a word as he turned the page and both of their eyes widened as they saw the pictures of Audrey. She was the first to find words. “This must be why your father was looking for Lucy Ripley. He was trying to find me.”

“How did he even know you?” Duke asked in almost a panic. The very idea of killing Audrey was unthinkable.

“More importantly, why did he want you to kill me?” she laid it all on the table.

Duke couldn’t deal with this anymore right now. “I don’t know. But you have to know I won’t do it. No matter what,” he had to make sure she understood that. 

“I know, Duke,” she told him gently. 

“I…I need some time…to think and…” he couldn’t put off getting his answers now and he just hoped that she could give them and there wasn’t some other big test for him to go through. 

“Okay. I’ll let you do that,” she told him as she got up to leave. “But Duke?” she stopped at the doorway. “You know I’m here if you need anything? To talk or…or anything.”

“I know. Thank you,” he said with what could almost be considered a smile. She always would be. But this version of her didn’t have the answers that he needed. Once she left the boat, Duke pulled out his phone and turned it over in his hands a few times before putting it away. The more he turned everything over in his head, the angrier he got and he knew that it wasn’t her fault and that he shouldn’t take it out on her, but damnit he’d had a right to know that he was troubled. And not only had she kept it from him, but she’d actively conspired to get him to activate it. At least that was the only conclusion he could come to because otherwise why not just warn him and tell him what to avoid. Knowing that it was on the orders of his future self didn’t help much right now because he wasn’t here to be yelled at. No, he needed to take some time to calm down. He would call her in the morning. When his phone rang an hour later, he hit ignore and sent back a text that just said, ‘not tonight’. 

Future Audrey winced when she got the text. She knew what it meant. He’d been keeping her updated on his search during their nightly calls so she knew he was close and would probably be figuring it out today. And activating his trouble. And that text meant that he was pissed and trying not to take it out on her. She knew that pushing through and insisting would just make it worse, so she let it go. She knew that he would be getting more answers from his father tomorrow and that would probably piss him off even more and she just hoped he remembered her warning not to trust the rev. After a few minutes she decided that she needed to reinforce that warning and sent a text back to remind him of that. She desperately wanted to keep him out of that situation and just hoped it was enough because she didn’t know what more she could do. 

Duke spent the rest of the night in the bottle before he passed out and when he woke up the next morning his first stop was a long shower to help clear his head and then he was going to have some coffee and breakfast and then call his girlfriend and have a very long talk about this. Unfortunately, that plan went out the window as soon as he walked out of the shower to find the ghost of his father standing there. At least now he could get some more answers before the confrontation that was coming, but as the day went on, the more answers he got the more he hated them and his mind was running in a hundred different directions. 

He really didn’t want to help out with the case right now, but he knew that this version of Audrey deserved to know what he’d learned, and hopefully her reactions could give him some hint of what the future Audrey was thinking before he had to face her. When he encountered the ghost of the rev he remembered the last text he’d gotten last night warning him not to trust him and he refused to go with him. Right up until he threatened Audrey. Then he didn’t have a choice. That didn’t mean he had to trust him though. He would just play along as long as he could to buy Audrey and Nathan time to solve this trouble and make him go away. 

That idea only lasted until he got there saw the pile of unconscious bodies and was told that he had to kill them. No way. There was no playing along with this. He took the knife they gave him and was ready to fight his way out of here whether they had guns or not. He would die before he killed all these innocent people and if they really needed him that badly, they wouldn’t kill him anyway. The guns pointing at him were a bluff. But then Nathan, Audrey, and even Garland were led out with guns to /their/ heads and he knew that those guns weren’t a bluff. That didn’t mean he was going to kill anyone though so he just dropped the knife. 

He was glad when Audrey started trying to talk Kyle down from his trouble. At least that would get rid of the ghosts stirring things up even if they would still be left with the fanatic gunmen. One step at a time. He started working his mind over to figure out a plan for that part. The ghost part of the problem only got worse when his father showed back up and he had him in one ear and the rev in the other trying to talk him into killing this poor guy, barely more than a kid, that was causing the ghosts. It definitely didn’t help that the kid was also begging him to kill him. To save his unborn son. This was insanity. He was so discombobulated that he didn’t even notice the knife being pressed back into his hand until the kid rushed over and grabbed Duke’s wrist and slammed the knife into his own chest. Duke’s eyes widened as he let go of the knife.


	25. Chapter 25

“No, no, no…” he breathed out in denial as he felt the rush of bloodlust wash over him and he took a few steps back, fighting it with everything he had. He wasn’t a killer. He wasn’t. And he refused to become one. And just like that all the pieces slotted into place and he knew what his future self was thinking hiding this from him. The fact that Audrey went along with it just proved that she’d been corrupted too. Probably by how bad the troubles got. He’d fallen to this curse. Learned to enjoy it. Become the monster. He’d let this feeling take him over and wanted to be sure that didn’t change. It was the only explanation. 

He didn’t even notice Audrey falling to Kyle’s side to try and stop the bleeding and save his life. He didn’t notice the looks of awe on the people surrounding him almost reverently. He did notice the chief’s voice and focused on that, turning to look at him with glowing silver eyes. “You can fight this son,” Garland told him. 

“He’s not your son old man,” Simon jumped in with a sneer. “He’s mine. "And he's ten times the man you could ever be," Garland snapped at Simon. "This is his birthright. His destiny. Even you can't interfere with that," Simon replied smugly.

“You’re stronger than this curse, Duke,” Garland ignored Simon even as the ghosts started to fade. “You can fight it.” He was having trouble holding himself together but needed to get Duke through this before he could let himself deal with it. He knew that he should be going into his meditative state to put it off, but this was more important. “You don’t let /anything/ control you. Don’t you start now.” 

Duke took a few deep breaths as he felt the rush fade and his eyes faded back to normal and he gave a grateful nod to Garland just as the ghosts completely faded away with the death of Kyle. As Audrey used the distraction to grab a gun and she and Nathan started getting the situation under control, Garland doubled over and fell down, leaning against a tree as he struggled. Duke rushed over to his side, missing the way that Nathan had instinctively tried to stop him and instead settled for coming with. “Don’t even think about it old man,” Duke said, forcing back his panic as he reached his hands to Garland’s face to lift his head. “Look at me. Match my breaths. Find your inner peace.” 

Garland shook his head, reaching a hand to Duke’s shoulder. “It’s too late,” he told him. “There’s no stopping this now.”

“No, it’s not. You told me to keep fighting. You don’t get to give up now,” Duke said frantically. 

“You gave me an extra few months. I can never thank you enough for that,” Garland told him. “But it’s time now.” He gave Duke’s shoulder a squeeze, seeing the acceptance in his eyes before he let go and reached his other hand for Nathan. “I am so proud of you son,” he paused with a groan as another wave passed over him. “Of the man you’ve become, despite my mistakes. I…I’m sorry…”

“Dad, don’t,” Nathan shook his head. “I…I forgive you. Just…let Duke help you.”

“He can’t. Not anymore,” Garland croaked out. “I know you’re strong enough, Nathan. You can…can save this town…can make the sacrifices you’ll have to…” He doubled over again letting go and giving both Nathan and Duke a push away. He was out of time. “You boys take care of our girl, y’hear?” He knew that Duke would know that he meant both of them. 

“Dad, no…” Nathan cried, rushing back forward just as he exploded. 

Audrey had finally finished getting the crowd taken care of just in time to see it and she was torn between going to Duke who just looked like he was in shock or Nathan who was on the verge of a full breakdown so she made the only choice she could. She went and wrapped her arms around Nathan’s shoulders comfortingly, but when she reached out her other hand towards, Duke he just stumbled to his feet and walked away. Part of her wanted to go after him, but Nathan was clinging to her now and she couldn’t bring herself to walk away from him. It was almost an hour before Nathan was pushing her away, saying that he needed to be alone, so she just pressed a kiss to his head and got up to leave him be. She headed home and went to clean up from all the blood and dirt before she was on her way out to check on Duke and that was the last thing she knew. 

Nathan pulled himself together before long and then felt bad for the way he’d pushed Audrey away so he went to go apologize only to find her apartment trashed, blood and signs of a struggle, and her missing. A quick perusal of the area and he found Duke’s whistle that he always kept hanging from his neck and the string was broken and Nathan felt a rage like he’d never felt before wash through him. First Duke wouldn’t save his father, now he’d taken Audrey. He rushed down to the boat, holding the whistle’s cord in a white knuckled grip and stormed in. 

Duke was sitting there, drowning himself in the bottle trying to forget everything about this awful day when Nathan came barging in. “Where is she?”

Duke didn’t know what was going on, but that look on Nathan’s face seriously worried him so he got up to be in a better position to defend himself if it came to it. “Where’s who?” he asked confused. He hadn’t found out about the other Audrey had he?

“Audrey,” Nathan snapped. “What did you do with her?”

It took him a second to realize that he meant the current Audrey and he felt his own fear wash over him. “She’s missing?” Duke asked worriedly. When Nathan just kept staring him down, he said, “Nathan, I swear. I didn’t do anything to her.”

“You were in her apartment,” Nathan accused.

“No, I wasn’t,” Duke said evenly. Not recently at least. When Nathan out the whistle his hand instinctively went to his throat. That was right. He’d forgotten it today when his father showed up. He knew that he had to talk Nathan down before things got out of hand here. He knew that Nathan was still reeling over the loss of his father and wasn’t thinking straight. He started backing up slowly, holding his hand in front of him. “Now think…/think/…Why would I hurt Audrey?”

“You have five seconds,” Nathan said coldly, already reaching for his gun.

Duke had just about had enough. It was bad enough being accused of every awful thing in the world, but today had been worse than usual. Now he was being accused of hurting Audrey of all people. He would die before he hurt her. “Nathan, if I was going to hurt her…I wouldn’t be waiting for you,” he tried to point out only to be attacked before the words even left his lips. Once he hit the floor, Nathan’s gun was pointed at his head, but Duke kept his cool and slowly reached for his own gun taped to the bottom of the booth he was lying next to. He was glad that he was paranoid enough to have over a dozen guns hidden all over the boat. 

Duke managed to distract Nathan enough to knock the gun away and go for his own, but he didn’t quite get it and the fight was on. Unfortunately, the fact that Nathan couldn’t feel pain worked against Duke and he found himself being choked out on the floor soon enough. Just as he thought he was a goner some of Nathan’s blood dripped onto his forehead and powered him up, giving Duke the strength to push him away. Duke forced the bloodlust back down before he and Nathan dove for the gun at the same time. Thankfully, some sort of magnetizing trouble kicked in about then and sucked the gun, along with everything metal in the room, straight to the ceiling. It took a minute to convince Nathan that he wasn’t doing it but then it was right back to the main point. “Where is Audrey?!” Nathan yelled.

“I told you man, I don’t know,” Duke said exasperated. “I wish I did.” When he saw Nathan start to falter in his insistence that it was Duke, he felt free to ask, “What the hell is going on, man? How could you think that I would do this?”

“You could have helped my father and you just let him die,” Nathan snapped. “What am I supposed to think?”

“I /tried/ to save him, Nathan. You /saw/ that. He wouldn’t listen! It wasn’t like I could get into his head and force him to meditate! Nathan…I am /not/ the /enemy/!” Duke growled.

“Your father, your grandfather, his father before that…they all killed troubled people to wipe out their curses. You don’t think any of them had any doubts? Or you just think you’re special?”


	26. Chapter 26

About that time the magnetization ended, and when Duke held out his hand, the gun fell right into it. “I’m gonna go with special,” he quipped. When Nathan rushed at him, Duke raised the gun to stop him. “Nathan,” he warned, prompting the detective to back up a few steps. “Whoever took Audrey, they planted that whistle in her apartment so you would find it and come after me. They /want/ us to kill each other. We are playing right into their hands.” He gave Nathan a minute to calm down before lowering the gun and spinning it, holding it out grip first for Nathan to take. “I’m not my father,” he said earnestly, eyes begging Nathan to believe him.

“Fine. Then you’re helping me find her at least,” Nathan snapped. It was bad enough that his father had given them both the job, Duke wasn’t weaseling out of it. 

“I was already planning on it,” Duke told him. “I need to grab a few things and I’ll meet you outside in five minutes.”

Nathan nodded and walked out but didn’t go far. He didn’t trust Duke as far as he could throw him and he knew that he was up to something so he waited on the other side of the door to see what he would do. 

Duke pulled out his phone and called the number he’d been avoiding. “Duke, I…” the future Audrey started as soon as she answered but he cut her off. 

“Audrey’s been taken,” he said coldly, making it clear that he wasn’t interested in conversation. 

The future Audrey took a deep breath, trying not to take his tone personally. She’d been so worried about him and his curse that she’d forgotten about herself. “I’m in the old Altair boarding house in the basement,” she told him. 

“Anything else I should know?” he asked curtly, hoping that she knew that he meant about this particular situation. 

“If you see the person who took me, shoot to kill. They killed about a dozen people or more in the future,” she told him only for him to hang up. 

Duke put the phone back in his pocket having no intention of following that last order. He would /not/ become the killer she wanted him to be. Period. He would worry about her later. He had to save her current self first. He walked out of the room, not realizing that he’d barely missed running into Nathan who’d scrambled when he’d started heading for the door, and met Nathan at his truck to ride with him. When Nathan got a call about a case, Duke almost argued with him about taking it and not putting Audrey first until he heard the part about it was at the old Altair boarding house and then he just shut up and went along with it. 

While Nathan was taking the guy’s statement who claimed that his mother was taken by aliens, Duke told him, “I’m gonna look around.” He was already gone before Nathan could say anything and headed straight for the basement, finding Audrey tied up and clearly a little worse for wear and a man standing in front of her with a gun in her face. He knew that if he rushed in there now that Audrey would end up shot, so he waited for an opening which he got when the man turned to pace as he railed at her. Duke shot out of the doorway and tackled him to the ground and the fight was on. He got knocked away and the other guy got his gun back so Duke called for Audrey to get down as he tried to find something to hide behind but there was nothing there. All he could do was try and keep Audrey out of the line of fire, so he moved away from her, glad that it was dark enough in here that it made him harder to hit. 

Once he found a beam to hide behind which was entirely inadequate for the purpose, but all he had, he pulled his own gun to return fire. He wasn’t going for a kill shot though. He was aiming for arms and legs. Anything to take this guy out of commission. Apparently Nathan didn’t get that memo though because he came bursting in, having heard the gunshots and took him down with two shots. As soon as the firing stopped, Nathan bent to check the body and make sure it was dead even as the skin was falling off of it, but Duke didn’t notice any of that as he went straight for Audrey to cut the ropes. 

“Oh, Duke, thank god,” she said relieved as she jumped into his arms hugging him tightly. “Thank you.” 

“How did you know she was here?” Nathan asked suspiciously, having finished his perusal of the strange body for the moment, confirming that it was dead and deciding to table to rest of that particular mystery for later. 

“What do you mean?” Duke asked, as Audrey turned her attention to her other rescuer for thanks. 

“You came straight down here as soon as we got here. You knew where she was,” Nathan accused. 

“The guy up there was claiming that his mother was abducted from here. I thought looking around was a prudent decision,” Duke told him. “I just happened to stumble across Audrey in my search.”

“And you just happened to start with the basement when we were on the second floor?” Nathan scoffed. 

“If someone is going to hide something, the basement is usually the first option,” Duke shrugged. He was very good at thinking up lies on the spot. 

“You don’t really think Duke did this?” Audrey asked incredulously. 

“I found his whistle in your apartment. With all the stuff that got broken in the struggle,” Nathan told her. 

“Then it was planted there,” Audrey said seriously. “There was no struggle. I was tased as I walked out the door and woke up here. The scene had to have been staged. Unless Duke caught them in the act and tried to fight?” she looked at him curiously. 

“I didn’t,” he shook his head. “If I had I would have already been out looking for you instead of sitting in my boat having a drink. I didn’t even realize you had gotten home.” 

“Fine. We should get out of here. And get someone down here to examine the body,” Nathan said with a huff leading Audrey upstairs. 

They had barely gotten back to the ground floor before all hell was breaking loose. Apparently, the guy they’d been here to talk to had found his mother’s skinned body and completely lost control of his trouble and there was an alien mothership bearing down on them. Audrey didn’t waste a second jumping in to help him, despite her state, but she wasn’t really getting anywhere until Nathan talked him into letting himself be abducted to end the trouble. 

When Nathan went to get a blanket for Audrey, who was still pretty out of it, from his truck, Duke followed him, leaning against the front of the ambulance that had just gotten there. “Hey Nathan…explain to me the difference between killing a man…and convincing him to crawl up his own ass…because I’m at a loss.” He didn’t see how convincing someone to get themselves ‘abducted’ by their own trouble was any better.

“Wesley /chose/ to walk into that light,” Nathan argued.

“Oh come on. You didn’t nudge him a little?” Duke pointed out, sauntering towards Nathan mockingly. “I mean…you said he was crazy.”

“And what did you say? Why not aliens,” Nathan said with a smirk. “Maybe he’s not dead. Maybe he comes back after the troubles are over with some good stories.”

Duke shook his head disgustedly. “Whatever helps you sleep at night Nate,” he drawled as he turned to walk away.

“Actually, the only thing that bothers me is that you wanted to kill him in the first place,” Nathan accused.

“No…don’t turn this around, Nathan,” Duke said incredulously. He never said a word about killing anyone.

“I saw it in your face Duke,” Nathan said evenly. “You can tell the world that you’re not like your father…but when the chips are down you are what you are.”

Duke’s face twisted into a conglomeration of disgusted, angry, and incredulous before he just said, “you’re a hypocrite, Nathan.” Sure, the thought had crossed his mind, but only briefly and only because of the fact that they could all die. Then he had realized that he was just playing into the curse’s hands. That was how it got you. His father had all but said as much. Convincing you that you were saving people until it got it’s hooks in and you became the thing that they needed saving from. He did know that he couldn’t stomach this conversation for another second and he stormed away, catching a ride back to his boat and hesitated for a minute before untying the mooring lines and heading towards the hideaway. He didn’t care if it was four in the morning. He needed to have this out with her /now/.


	27. Chapter 27

The future Audrey sat on the dock, looking out over the water, hugging her knees to her chest with a heavy blanket wrapped around her. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep tonight so she didn’t even bother trying. She just sat there letting the tears flow. Even during their worst fights, she had never heard his voice so cold when he was talking to her and the way he’d just hung up so abruptly made her more afraid than ever that she’d lost him for good. That there was no coming back from this. She wasn’t worried about her past self. Duke knew where to find her and no matter how angry he was at this version of her, he would never let that one suffer. She had been okay last time after being held for much longer, so this time was a given. No, her only concern was Duke. 

She wondered if he’d managed to avoid the rev’s plot. If her warning had been enough. How his talk with his father had gone. How much he knew now about his trouble and how it worked. Most importantly though, she wondered if he would ever be able to forgive her. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice the Rouge until it was almost there and she absentminded checked her watch to see that it was almost four am as she jumped to her feet. As soon as it was close enough, she let the blanket fall and jumped into the boat, heading for him as he came down the ladder. “Duke…”

“Don’t…” he twisted away from her disgustedly, “touch me.” She sucked in a sharp breath as the tears filled her eyes again and he circled around her to toss out the mooring lines and wrap them around the posts, not tying them off. He didn’t plan to stay that long. “It’s not going to work,” he said coldly. 

“What’s not…”

“I won’t become him,” Duke continued. “I won’t let this curse take me. I won’t become the cold-blooded killer you want me to be.”

“You think…No!” she shook her head in shock. “No, I don’t want…I never wanted…”

“I’m not stupid, Audrey,” he snapped. “You deliberately engineered this. Me activating this trouble. A trouble that tries to force me to kill other troubled people. That pushes this euphoric bloodlust to make me /like/ it. You /put/ this on me…and then you told me to go kill some troubled person to save your life…”

“Okay, stop. Please,” she begged, trying to hold back her tears. “I can see why you would think that, but you’re wrong, Duke. You are /so/ wrong. Please just hear me out and let me explain.” 

“Explain?!” he scoffed. “What more explanation could there be?” If she was going to try and talk him around to her plan of action, he wanted no part of that. 

“Please, Duke. Just listen. And then if you want to go, I’ll never bother you again,” she promised as she lost hold on a few tears that fell at the very thought of watching him walk away. 

He glared at her for a moment as he considered it before nodding curtly and reaching over to tie the mooring lines following back towards the house, but only as far as the porch, making it clear that he was waiting there. She went inside and refilled her coffee that she’d been living on all night and poured him a cup before coming back out and handing it to him and he took it grudgingly. “Now talk.”

“You’re right that your future self and I deliberately set you up to activate your trouble, but you’re completely wrong as to why,” she told him. “You’re not a killer, Duke. You never could be. Curse or no curse. You’re so much stronger than that.”

“Then why?” he asked, crossing his arms as he leaned against the railing. 

“Because you do have to use it. Once and only once. There’s a trouble that so awful and destructive and hundreds of people or more will die if you don’t,” she tried to explain. 

“The one you just asked me to kill? You said a dozen people. Not hundreds,” he pointed out, seeing it as proof that she was lying to him. 

“No, that was…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you to kill her…”

“Her?” Duke asked confused. “It was a guy.”

“No, it was posing as a guy. She’s a skinwalker. She kills people, skins them, and wears the skin as her own. But when I told you to kill her…that wasn’t a you using your trouble thing. It had nothing to do with that. It was just that she caused so much damage and killed so many people and I wanted to stop her. That was all. It was an impulsive comment and I shouldn’t have put it on you. Especially not now, and I’m sorry.” 

“So, this person you do want me to kill then…what could possibly be so bad as to justify cold-blooded murder?” Duke asked skeptically, tabling that discussion for later. 

“The future you asked me to give you a few days to process what you have now before putting this on you, but under the circumstances, I’ll go ahead and tell you…” she decided before giving him the entire story of the organ stealing trouble, everything they went through last time, how those other kids got their trouble activated, how many more there could be, how much he struggled with the decision, even how she threw it at him at the last minute and how much it tore him apart afterwards. 

“And why can’t you just stop it from happening this time,” he scoffed. “If it’s so bad, timeline be damned, it needs to be prevented.”

“It’s not that simple,” she told him. “First was the fact that he wasn’t even in Haven when it started and when it does start, he will die anyway if he doesn’t get the organs he needs, so it would basically mean killing someone before they’ve even done anything wrong, and if that would save all those lives then so be it. I’d sneak out of here and put a bullet in him myself, but there are so many children who have inherited this trouble and any one of them could activate it at any time without us knowing or being able to control the situation. Just losing their father could activate it in the kids he raised and then we’re faced with having to kill a /kid/ to solve this. Plus…” she cut herself off, not sure if she should tell him that part. 

“Plus what?” Duke asked, refusing to consider that she actually had a point yet. He needed to hear it all first. 

She took a deep steadying breath before saying, “You swore that you would never have children to pass this curse down to. You’ll be the last Crocker. If you don’t do this, then the next cycle of troubles when this one pops up there will be no one there to stop it. This one /needs/ to be taken off the board for good. And only the Crocker curse can cure it completely.” 

“And that’s the /only/ time I ever used it?” Duke asked with narrowed eyes. 

“That’s the only time you ever used it to kill anyone. You used it to save people more than once,” she told him. 

“How?” 

“A woman was trapped in her car after being run off a cliff. A few drops of blood from her wounds and you ripped the car apart enough to carry her out of there. Another time there was a trouble where a guys blood took on a life of it’s own and was sucking all the blood out of other people, but it couldn’t kill you, you just absorbed it and neutralized it before it killed anyone else. There were a few other times I heard about but I wasn’t there so I don’t have the details, but it was the same sort of situations,” she told him. 

“So I fought through the feeling this thing gives me to /save/ the troubled people?” he asked, relaxing a bit at that knowledge. 

“You did. And you told me exactly how it felt so I know how hard it was. You are the strongest person I’ve ever known, Duke. I know you can handle this and that’s the only reason I did it. And why your future self suggested it. Because you /won’t/ fall to it.”

“Is this the last secret you have from me? There’s nothing else you’re hiding?” he asked. 

“Well there are things that I haven’t mentioned because they haven’t come up yet or things that I’ve forgotten to mention and stuff like that I’m sure…”

“But is this the last thing that you’re /deliberately/ keeping from me?” he asked firmly. Audrey froze for a long moment, not willing or able to lie to him outright, but not sure what to say otherwise. “Tell me,” he ordered. 

“Your future self made me swear to /never/ tell you. No matter what. It’s something that only happened because of what happened with the barn, so it won’t happen again.”

“I still need to know,” he said seriously. 

“No, Duke. You really don’t. It was…awful. It almost broke you. I can’t…you don’t know how much it killed me to watch you go through that. I’ve never seen you as close to the edge as you were then and I can’t let you carry that burden again. Please. I promised.”

Duke could see where she was coming from, but he couldn’t live with any more secrets right now. Not after this. “I know that you probably don’t know much about my past. We were only together for a few weeks in the future and it’s not something I talk about. But I will tell you this. Pretty much every person that I’ve ever trusted in my life has used me, lied to me, manipulated me…and now this…I know you made a promise to my future self, but he’s gone now. And this is the me you’re going to have to live with and I /have/ to know there are no more secrets here.”

“Duke, I can’t…” she begged. 

“Or I can walk away. Get on my boat and leave. For good. I’ll stick out the next couple months and see this thing through until the barn. I’ll still drop off groceries and supplies for you, but other than that, you won’t see me and when this is over I’ll leave Haven for good. But I can’t live with these kinds of secrets. Not after this. It’s your choice, Audrey.” No matter how much it would kill him to walk away he would do it. He wouldn’t have a choice. His trust in her had just taken a major hit and he couldn’t handle anymore.


	28. Chapter 28

Audrey took a few deep breaths as she steeled herself for her decision, wiping away her tears, and hating herself for being selfish enough to do this. “I guess we all have a selfish streak in us, after all,” she muttered. “Okay. I’ll tell you. Despite the fact that I shouldn’t. I should just let you walk away and save you from this, but I can’t and I’m sorry for that.” She took their coffee cups and went to refill them as she tried to get her thoughts together and he let her. When she got back, she told him, “At least sit down for this?” 

He sighed and pulled over a chair in front of the swing where she was sitting and plopped down in it. “Now tell me.” 

“When you and I were trapped in the barn…everyone thought we were dead. Your brother Wade came to handle your affairs and when you got back he decided to stay since he’d just found out that his wife was sleeping around. You tried to get him out of town and save him from all the troubled mess, but he refused to go. There was someone…who was upset about you not ‘playing your role’ and wanted a Crocker with the curse that they could control so they filled his head with stories about how great it was and how many people he could help and how you were hogging all the glory. They fed his daddy issues, telling him that you were trying to keep him from his birthright and not share your father’s legacy.” 

“So they helped him activate the curse in himself,” Duke realized with dread. “But I would have helped him control it. I would have taught him…”

“You tried,” she told him. “You did everything you possibly could, but he wouldn’t listen. He killed…so many. I don’t even know how many. Starting with the one who got him to activate it in the first place. When you found out…you went to confront him. To try and stop him. You were going to lock him up until you could get through to him, but…”

“But what,” Duke asked hauntedly, having a feeling where this was going, but needing to hear the words. 

“You found him attacking a young troubled girl. You tried to save her. You tried to talk him down. He wouldn’t listen. There was a fight and…and he was killed,” she finished. 

“I killed my brother,” Duke breathed out, pain awash in his voice. “My brother…”

“Not on purpose,” she said quickly. When she could see that it didn’t help much, she sighed. “You see now why I was never supposed to tell you? I…I’m sorry,” she hugged her knees to her chest when he didn’t speak and she could see the anguish in his eyes as the scene played over and over in his head. “I’m sorry I’m so selfish that I put this on you rather than give you up.” 

Duke took a deep shaky breath, pulling himself out of the loop of horror in his mind and shook his head. He reached over and put his hands on hers. “Thank you,” he said softly. When she gave him a confused look, he clarified. “Thank you for proving how much I matter to you. You…you did the right thing.”

“Did I?” she scoffed. 

“Yes. You did. Because as much as this hurts…having to walk away from you would have been ten times worse,” he told her. 

“Then…you’re not? Walking away?” she couldn’t help but ask hopefully. 

“No. I don’t think so anyway. I…I need to clear my head and…and think for a bit, but…”

“Okay. I understand,” she said sadly. 

“I’m gonna head back now. Take a nap, and you should too. Then I’ll get your groceries and come back, and we can talk this out for real, okay?” 

“Okay,” she sniffled. “That’s okay.” 

Duke got up and leaned over, pressing a lingering kiss to her forehead, that being as far as he could go right now and he left her sitting there as he went to untie the boat. He knew that he should tell her the rest of the news, but he just couldn’t even think right now. He didn’t go back to Haven. He just anchored her out to sea for a while so that no one could bother him, and he went to take a much needed nap. Once he woke up it was around midafternoon so he pulled up the anchor and headed to shore. He spent the trip, then the shopping trip, then the trip back to the hideaway deep in thought, trying to come to terms with everything and by the time he got back, he was ready to talk. 

Audrey had managed a nap, but not a very good one. It was something though. She was out sitting on the porch swing when she saw the Cape Rouge coming into view so she went out to the dock, more than a little nervous, to wait for her to pull up. She caught the mooring lines he tossed her and tied them off, finishing up about the time he came back down after shutting everything down. She stepped back, biting her lip as he came off the boat. 

Duke could see her worry and needed to take care of that first so he reached out and put a hand on her hip, pulling her close and pressing a soft kiss to her lips before saying, “We have a lot to talk about and work out but we /will/. Because I love you and that’s not going to change.” 

“I love you too, Duke,” she whispered relieved as she tucked his hair behind his ear and just breathed in his presence. 

They just stood there for a few minutes before he headed back towards the house, taking her hand and threading their fingers together as he walked. When they got inside, he went to the kitchen and started dinner. They could go get the rest of the groceries later. He needed to be doing something while he said what he needed to say. “I need to know…if my future self hadn’t made you promise not to tell me about my trouble…would you have?” 

“I don’t know,” Audrey said honestly. “I agreed with his reasoning at the time and still do to a point. Whether I could have stood here and faced you and listened to your worries and fears and still not said anything? I doubt it. If not for the promise, I probably would have caved. 

He nodded. He could believe that given how she had caved when he gave her the ultimatum about the other promise she made. “I don’t like it. It should have been my choice. But in a way it was. It was my future self’s decision and that just makes it all so complicated to get my head around, you know?” 

“I can imagine,” she sighed sadly. “If you think it’ll help I’ll tell you our reasoning?” 

“Please,” Duke told her. He had a pretty good idea, knowing how he thought and knowing her as well as he did by now, but that didn’t mean that he hadn’t missed something. 

“We knew how hard it would be for you to make that decision. To take on that kind of burden knowingly and willingly. We knew that you would do it, because you couldn’t /not/ when it meant saving so many lives, but you would have agonized over it needlessly. We wanted to save you from that for as long as we could.”

“Okay. I can understand that,” he said evenly, trying to look at it as objectively as he could manage. 

“We never dreamed the conclusion you would jump to, but we should have. When you laid it out the way you did, it was so obvious. I mean, with as well as you know me I would have thought you’d know better, but given the evidence…”

“Yeah, for that, I owe /you/ the apology. You’re right. I do know you. And no matter how much I feared that I would have fallen into the lure of this curse, I should have known that you would never go along with it. No matter how bad things had gotten in the future.”

“It was a reasonable assumption given what you knew…”

“And how many times have you stood up for me, despite all evidence to the contrary, because you knew me better than that?” he pointed out. When she had nothing to say to that he continued. “The only excuse I have is that everything was piling on all at once and I was spinning out of control and couldn’t even rely on my anchor at that moment either, so…”

“If you need to hear it, I forgive you, Duke,” she said softly, moving up behind him and wrapping her arms around his stomach. The way he referred to her as his anchor gave her the last confidence that she needed that they would get past this. That this wouldn’t tear them apart. It couldn’t. They were stronger than that.


	29. Chapter 29

“Thank you,” he said, running his free hand over her arms before nudging her away so he could pull the food off the stove. “I need to know that there won’t be any more secrets like this though. Things you haven’t gotten around to telling me yet, okay, but no more secrets okay?” 

“I promise,” she said sincerely.

He smiled and leaned down for a lingering kiss as he put the plates on the table. “And I promise you that the only secrets I keep will be the ones you want me to regarding my business.” He wanted her to know that he wasn’t expecting any double standards here. 

“Okay,” she smiled happily as he sat down to eat with her. 

“To that end, not that I ever planned on keeping it a secret anyway, but I still probably should have said something sooner…”

“What happened?” she asked worriedly. 

“The chief is gone. He…shattered. Last night.” 

“Oh god,” she gasped. “What…how…why?” 

“Your message about not trusting the rev…I didn’t. Really. But…he didn’t give me a choice,” Duke sighed, starting from the beginning. “He threatened you. To use the fact that he came back from the dead to radicalize his followers even more and send them after you…I had to go with him.”

“So that was why…” she realized, reaching across the table and taking his free hand as they ate. “That makes so much more sense with why you just left me there without a word.”

“I couldn’t let him hurt you. Any version of you,” he told her. “So, I went with him. If I’d known what I was walking into…”

“Kyle killed himself didn’t he?” she asked. 

“No, I…he…” Duke struggled over how to explain this part. 

“/He/ walked into the knife. /He/ grabbed your wrist and /used/ you to do it,” she told him, knowing that the way it happened last time was the only way it could have happened. If Kyle was dead and Duke felt like he was at fault, then it had to have happened the same way. 

“The chief was there,” he told her, leaving that subject alone and turning to something that he knew would have been different and getting back to her original question. “The stress of the whole thing…it was too much for him, but he…”

“He what?” she coaxed when he trailed off. 

“He could have slipped into his meditation. He was good enough by then that he could have at least tried, but he didn’t,” Duke told her. “Instead he…he talked me down. Told me to fight it. That…that I was stronger than the curse. He…”

“He was never very good about showing it, but he cared about you, Duke,” she told him, pulling him to the couch and sitting across his lap for comfort. “Just like you cared about him. If your positions were reversed, you would have done the same for him.” 

“I tried…once it was over, I tried to talk him into a meditation, but…he wouldn’t even try. Just said that it was too late. If he had just done that instead of worrying about me…”

“Then it still might have been too late,” she said gently, running her hand through his hair. “He made his choice. Don’t try and take that away from him.” 

“He thanked me for giving him an extra few months,” he told her. 

“I’m sure they meant everything to him,” she assured him. When she could tell that he was overloaded on that subject, she moved on. “And then you found out that I was missing.” She could see what he meant about everything piling on all at once. 

“Yeah. Nathan accused me…”

“Because of the whistle. Arla planted it there for that reason. To turn you two against each other,” she told him. 

“Yeah. It didn’t help that I found you right away. He thought I knew where to look.”

“I didn’t think of that. I’m sorry,” she winced. 

“I did,” he told her. “I knew that it would risk pointing the finger even more at me, but I wasn’t going to let you suffer any longer than I had to, no matter the consequences. I’m pretty sure my explanation worked though. I mean the guy was complaining about his mother being abducted. Looking around the place was only reasonable and starting with the basement made sense. It helped that you came to my defense, letting him know that the scene was staged and there wasn’t actually a fight.” 

“That’s good,” she said relieved. 

“It didn’t stop him from accusing me of wanting to kill the guy with the alien trouble and being just like my father though,” he huffed. 

“You are /nothing/ like your father, Duke,” she assured him. “I wish I could tell you that this was the end of that, but things will get worse with Nathan before they get better. But they /will/ get better. And maybe sooner this time once he gets over the shock of his father’s death and remembers that he trusted you.” 

“Maybe,” Duke shrugged. “Not like it’s the first time I’ve ever been judged unfairly though and it probably won’t be the last.”

“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt,” she said pointedly. “You may be able to fool the rest of the world, but you can’t fool me.” 

“No,” he chuckled. “I guess I can’t.” That didn’t mean he couldn’t change the subject though. “You mentioned the kidnapper’s name was Arla?” Nathan would probably need an ID at some point if he could find a way to slip it in without making himself look more guilty. “Anything else I should know about her?” 

“She was my daughter in law. Sort of,” she shrugged. “She was technically Sarah’s daughter in law, but Sarah was me, so…”

“Which means you had a kid when you were Sarah?” he asked. 

“Yeah. James. I gave him to a nice family before I went in the barn that year and he grew up and got married, but right after the wedding he was killed. I took him into the barn to try and save his life, but now he’s tied to the barn. He can’t survive outside of it.”

“So when the barn was destroyed…”

“He died with it.” 

“I’m sorry,” he said sympathetically, holding her close and kissing her head. He understood her desire to save the barn even more now. “You said you left him with a family, why not his father?” 

“Because his father hadn’t even been born yet,” Audrey chuckled. “Nathan was his father. He slept with Sarah when you two got sent back to the fifties.” 

“I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this, but you don’t want me to try and prevent that right?” he asked. 

“No. And not just because it’ll mess up the timeline in ways I can’t even begin to foresee,” she told him. 

“That’s what I thought,” he nodded. 

“Funny enough, we had a similar conversation in the future when we were talking about me coming back here,” she smiled at the memory. 

“Oh? About your son?” 

“No, about your daughter,” she told him. “You told me that you would gladly go through all of that again for her to have a chance at life.” 

“Yeah. I would,” Duke nodded. “Even if I can’t ever see her.” 

“And I’ll never see James again, so I know how you feel,” she said sadly. “At least I know he’ll survive this time and that’s the important thing.”

“Yeah, it really is,” he agreed. 

“So, is there anything else coming up I should know about?” he asked curiously now that he was a little more emotionally settled. He wanted to get all the business out of the way so he could enjoy the rest of his visit the right way. 

“Depending on how much Arla spilled before you got to her, I should start looking for James soon and I’ll find his coffin with a message I wrote myself. ‘Find him before the Hunter.’ I won’t find out he’s my son for a while though.”

“You mentioned the Hunter meteor storm before…”

“Which is the information you found for me,” she told him. “I’ll talk to you about it soon and you promised to help me figure it out. When you see me with a dog, that’s the right time to tell me that it’s a meteor storm not a person and that I disappear every twenty-seven years.”

“But I can’t tell you why?” he asked, once again realizing the burdens that she was operating under and getting a new appreciation for how she must have felt to keep this secret from him. 

“No, we need to keep as close to the original timeline as possible with that. If I find out too much too soon, I might let someone talk me into trying to find another way and then…”

“Yeah, it makes sense,” Duke sighed. “It sucks though.”

“Yeah. It really does,” she chuckled. 

“Just make sure you keep me updated on what to tell you and when,” he told her. 

“I will,” she promised. 

“That’s all?” he asked. 

“That I can think of, yeah.”

“Then let’s go to bed?” he asked hopefully and she definitely had no problem agreeing to that, both of them glad that they were okay now. They'd made it over the first major hurdle of their relationship and hopefully any future ones wouldn't be nearly so bad.


	30. Chapter 30

The next morning, Duke woke up first as he always did, but instead of lazing in bed and enjoying the morning, he slipped out, careful not to wake Audrey and made his way to the kitchen to make up a nice breakfast. He returned and, very reminiscent of her birthday last hear, leaned down to wake her with a kiss. As soon as she opened her eyes, he set the tray on the bed and said, “Happy Anniversary.” 

“Anniversary?” she blinked in surprise. 

“I know technically it’s not until Tuesday, but with the way things go around here there’s no guarantee I’ll even be able to make it out here Tuesday, so…”

“So we’ll celebrate it today,” she smiled brightly, sitting up and kissing him deeply before turning her attention towards breakfast as he slid into bed next to her to eat his own. “Do you have a whole day planned this time too?” she asked amusedly. 

“Not the /whole/ day, no,” he told her. “I have the evening all planned, and of course, this breakfast, but the rest of the day is open for input.” He was glad that he’d gotten all the planning and everything ready before the whole mess with his trouble got him sidetracked and got them in a fight. He had considered putting it off after the fight, but decided against it. Somehow it just seemed appropriate to celebrate it now anyway. Maybe as much of a celebration of getting through their first real fight intact as their one year anniversary. 

Audrey used the time during breakfast to consider what she wanted to request for the day. She thought about what Duke might have planned and knowing him she would guess that it was something more catering to her tastes to make it special for her, so she would suggest something that he would like for the daytime. “How about after breakfast we go fishing and just have a picnic for lunch?” Fishing wasn’t something she did particularly often on her own, but she liked it well enough and knew that he loved it. She was running low on fish anyway.

“You’re sure that’s what you want to do?” Duke asked with a smile, pressing a kiss to her bare shoulder between bites. They usually fished together on these visits once a month or so, but it had been a while. 

“I’m sure,” she nodded. “Unless that’s what you have planned for the evening.”

Duke laughed and shook his head. “Nope. Not even close. But we’ll have to fish from the dock or the shore though. You’re not allowed on the boat until tonight.” He didn’t want to risk her finding the surprises. 

“Fair enough,” she chuckled as he grabbed the tray to take it to the kitchen and start making up their picnic lunch while she got dressed and then cleaned up from breakfast and dinner last night. They finished up about the same time and spent the rest of the morning and the first half of the afternoon afternoon fishing before he started packing everything up. 

“Okay, now you need to take about an hour and a half. Pamper yourself. Have a nice long bath, whatever, but you’re not allowed to come outside until I come and get you,” he told her. 

“What should I wear?” she asked with an excited grin. 

“You’ll see,” he smirked. “Now shoo,” he waved her towards the house. His first stop was to grab her outfit for the night and lay it on her bed while she was in the bathroom and then he headed back to the boat to get dinner started. Once it was at the point where he could leave it for a while, he went to set up the deck of the boat. One more quick check on dinner and he was able to jump in the shower and change himself before it was ready and he took it off the stove and out of the oven and then headed to the house to get Audrey. 

Audrey took his advice and took a nice long bath to relax and luxuriate, knowing that she had plenty of time. By the time she got out, her fingers were starting to prune and she headed for the bedroom with the towel wrapped around her to see if she could figure out what he meant by ‘she would see’ what she was supposed to be wearing. When she saw the dress on the bed she gasped as she realized that she’d been absolutely right. Whatever he had planned was to make this night special for her. He definitely wasn’t the type for anything this dress could be for. It also meant that she didn’t have quite as much time as she’d thought. This dress meant fixing her hair and makeup too. 

She picked up the satin dress to get a better idea of what it looked like so she could plan accordingly and noticed the medium blue color that perfectly matched the dolphin on her necklace. It was a one shoulder style that would fall to her knee on one side and almost to her ankle on the other. When she picked it up she noticed something else fall to the floor and picked it up, opening the box to find the matching earrings for her necklace with dangling blue topaz dolphins in gold hearts. She set the dress back down for now and took the earrings back into the bathroom to do her hair and makeup, deciding to go with a half up half down hairstyle that would show off the earrings. 

She had just finished getting the dress on and walking out when she saw Duke get to the door and her breath caught at the sight of him in a suit and tie. If she had stopped to consider it, she would have expected it what with her clothes, but she hadn’t. He smirked and offered her his arm which she took with a grin. “Now don’t get used to seeing me all dressed up like this,” he warned with a chuckle. 

“Can I get used to seeing it on our anniversary?” she asked hopefully. 

“I suppose I can agree to once a year,” he said amusedly as he helped her onto the boat. “First things first…” he led her over to one side and pointed at a camera he had set up there. “Say cheese.” He knew that she would want pictures and to be honest he wanted some of his own. They had taken quite a few pictures of each other over the last year, but he couldn’t keep any of them himself in case people got snoopy so she had all the copies. Every so often he would have her send him one that he’d look at for a little while before deleting, but otherwise the pictures were all with her. At least for another two months until they could come out in the open. 

He had the remote for the camera and took about a dozen pictures, some funny, some sweet before he led her to the nice table he had set up in the center of the deck and pulled out her chair for her, setting out the food and taking the wine from the wine bucket to pop the cork. “This is amazing,” she told him breathlessly as she looked around at the gorgeously elegant setup. 

Duke just smirked again and hit another button on another remote to start some music and she smiled wider. He started the conversation with reminisces about their year together and she quickly followed suit as they ate slowly and savored the food and wine. As the sun went down the lights decorating the boat lit up and created an almost fairylike effect that she looked at in awe. Once they were finally finished eating, Duke hit another button on the music remote and it changed from ambiance to dance music and he stood up and offered her his hand. As she took it, he told her, “Fair warning, I’m not the best dancer in the world.”

“That’s okay. Neither am I,” she laughed. 

“Good. Then we’ll dance badly together,” he chuckled as he spun her around, catching her as she stumbled. They danced for the next hour, with a lot of laughter and stumbles along the way, but they still had quite a bit of fun with it and Audrey didn’t notice him clicking the camera button whenever they danced their way in range. When they were about ready for a break, he asked her, “Time for dessert?” 

“Yes, please,” she said happily as he led her back to the table and he disappeared inside, coming back with two crystal bowls set inside larger ice bowls and set one in front of her and she waited until he was seated too before she took the first spoonful and moaned at the taste. 

“Confession…the tiramisu is store bought. I just put it in the fancy bowls,” he told her. “I may be a good cook, but that’s a little too tricky even for me.” 

“I don’t care. It’s still perfect,” she told him. “This whole night is just…incredible.”

“Gotta pull out all the stops sometimes so you don’t get bored with me and all,” he joked. 

“Oh please,” she laughed. “I don’t think it’s possible to get bored with you.” He had a way of making even the most basic things fun. 

“That’s good to know,” he chuckled. “But it’s still nice to try and impress you every once in a while.”

“Well, you definitely succeeded at that,” she assured him. 

After dessert they did a little more dancing before heading inside so that she could reward him for all this with a nice full body massage and they slept on the boat that night. The next morning over breakfast, their break from reality was over and they talked a little more in detail of what was coming and what all he could tell the other Audrey and when before he headed out, leaving the camera with her so that she could grab the pictures off of it. It wasn’t long after he left, as she was going through the pictures, that she sent him a text adding two more picture frames to her next supply list. An eight by ten and a four by six. In the meantime, she printed up one of the pictures to replace the one on her nightstand of them and would put the other one back when she got the new frame. 

The year she’d been here, she’d easily turned it into a home and there were a few pictures she’d printed up of them dotted around. She loved all of the pictures they’d taken the previous night, but she had two favorites that she definitely wanted to display. One of the sweet posed ones where the were looking in each other’s eyes and one of the fun dancing ones where she had tripped and he caught her in what could almost look like a dip at first glance and they were both laughing. The dancing one would be the eight by ten that she would put over the fireplace in between the two four by six selfies they’d taken before.


	31. Chapter 31

Once Duke got back to the Gull around midmorning, he had a few stops to make. The first thing he had to do was to buy new locks for Audrey’s apartment that he would change in the morning and then, after a few minutes of hesitating, he went to the Haven Herald. Dealing with Vince after he’d sent Dwight after him wouldn’t be fun, but with the chief gone, he didn’t have much choice. At least he didn’t have to talk to him much this visit. “This is too complicated to explain, so I’m just gonna leave this and you can come find me if you want,” Duke told him and dropped the letter that the future Audrey had given him on the desk before walking out. 

Vince watched him go suspiciously before turning to look at the letter and his eyebrows rose as he recognized his name in his own handwriting. He turned it over to see an unbroken seal and took a moment to consider the possibilities before opening it. 

Vincent,  
I’m sure this is going to come as quite a shock to you, but I am you from the future. There is a trouble that allows us to send people back in time, and things went so badly here that we decided to use it. I know that you won’t believe this without at least some of the details, so I’ll give you an overview. When the barn came, Audrey did not hesitate to make her decision to leave, but Nathan refused to let her go and found a way to destroy the barn. Following this, the troubles began to escalate and spread until they were tearing the entire town apart. Entire sections of town were completely destroyed, hundreds dead, and just before we decided to take this option we learned of a great evil that was released in the destruction of the barn. More details on that can be found in Samuel Cabot’s journal. We truly were on the verge of destruction or you know that I would never have gone along with a plan such as this. You can get more details from the emissary that was sent.   
The original plan was as follows. The emissary would return to the time when Audrey Parker first came to Haven and would pull minor strings to save lives without disrupting the timeline overly much. They would make contact with Duke Crocker and Garland Wuornos and no one else, until Garland passed at which point contact would be made with me…or you rather. The final plan is to prevent Nathan from being anywhere near the barn when the time comes, even if it means involving the guard, though I would suggest against it if it can be avoided. Regarding the guard, I must warn you to be careful of Jordan McKee. She is a wild card that often goes rogue and even attempted a coup to take control of the guard herself. Do not involve her in any of these plans regarding the barn.   
The final point I must discuss with you is Duke Crocker. I know that you will be skeptical of this. I was as well for quite some time, but he is not the enemy. He is not like the other Crockers and has consistently been on the front lines protecting this town and the troubled from any enemy. This does not mean that he will work with the guard. He works for no one but himself and will butt heads with the guard as much as help them, but he is no killer. He will not fall to the Crocker Family Curse. No matter how bad the troubles get. He used his curse once and only once, at the request of Audrey Parker, to rid us of the organ stealing trouble once and for all and as he is likely to be the last Crocker, you MUST allow this to happen. I will not ask you to like him. I don’t like him either. But understand that you can work with him and that his moral code does line up with the guard’s. If all has gone according to plan, he will be able to get you in contact with the emissary from the future to discuss things further.   
Good Luck,  
Vincent

Vince took a few moments to reread the letter twice, waving off Dave when he asked him about it, before he pulled a lighter from his desk and set the letter on fire. This could go no further and he could easily agree that only two people should know at a time. He could even understand Duke Crocker being one of them. If this emissary had to stay hidden, he would be the one to best help with that. He was more than a little skeptical of the idea of him being trustworthy, but who was he to argue with himself. It didn’t mean that he would let his guard down of course. He would just watch for the time being. And let the guard know that Crocker was off limits. He would hear their ideas and find out what all they had done already before making any plans of his own. He checked his watch and decided to go for a late lunch at the Grey Gull. 

When he got there he detoured to the Cape Rouge, finding Duke on the deck of the boat moving some furniture around and removing what appeared to be fairy lights from around the edge and decided not to ask about that. “When and where can I meet with this emissary from the future?” he asked. 

Duke considered it for a moment before telling him, “The safehouse is secret and will stay that way and they can’t be seen, so it will have to be here on the boat. There are a few conversations I have to be available to have with Audrey tomorrow, but if the day after works for you, I can pick them up around mid-morning and you can meet us here for lunch?” 

“That’s acceptable,” Vince nodded. “I will see you then.” He turned and headed into the Gull to eat before heading back to the paper. He occupied his afternoon with looking back over the last year and a half and trying to identify placed that strings might have been pulled, but couldn’t find anything particularly likely. Whatever they’d done apparently hadn’t caused any major disasters. 

The next morning, Duke took coffee up to the current timeline Audrey and offered to change her locks. He hadn’t gotten far on that before he was pulled away by the conversation as she showed him the pictures of the empty coffin and they started to discuss Hunter theories. He also slipped in some teasing about leaving herself more detailed notes in the future. He made sure not to let too much slip and when it came to brainstorming, he mostly just repeated her own theories back to her in different words so as not to let too much slip. It wasn’t time for him to find anything yet. This was just to get him looking. 

After a while Nathan showed up to let her know there was a case and clearly did not like Duke being there and liked even less that Audrey had shared the information with him, even going so far as to accuse him of being the hunter which he quickly shot down. When he tried to warn him away from Audrey, Duke couldn’t help but laugh as he outright refused and swore to keep helping Audrey no matter what she needed. He had been briefed on the basics of the case they were working on so when he and Dwight managed to get the guy corralled in Dwight’s truck and Audrey and Nathan came to pick him up, Duke mentioned that he was acting more like a dog than a human. Might as well drop a hint to get them on the right track. Hopefully before the kid went missing and almost froze to death. 

That night when he saw Audrey coming downstairs with the dog, he knew that it was the right time and approached her. He told her what he was supposed to. That the hunter was a meteor storm that came every twenty-seven years and that when she was Lucy and Sarah it was the night she disappeared. When she asked when, he told her that she had forty-nine days. He had just gotten the information across when Nathan pulled up so it was decent timing. He reached out to give her shoulder a comforting squeeze before turning and heading back to his boat, feeling like a complete ass for hiding so much. At least he knew that the future Audrey would understand when he called her to talk about it. She’d recently been in the same position, after all.


	32. Chapter 32

The next morning, Duke once again took Audrey coffee and tried to convince her to live a little. He knew that he probably wouldn’t succeed, but it was worth a shot. She would be gone in forty-eight days and the troubles would be gone along with her. She needed a chance to enjoy her life before it ended. Sure enough, he failed miserably, and she headed off to work. He killed a little time downstairs at the restaurant before it was time to go pick up Audrey from the hideaway. He’d let her know about the meeting with Vince during their daily talks so she was ready to go when he got there and he didn’t even have to stop the boat. He just slowed down enough as he skimmed by the dock for her to jump on with a laugh and he gave her a playful salute from up top before she went inside to wait. 

Once they were docked back at the Gull, and Audrey was ready to hide if anyone else other than Vince showed up, he joined her in the stateroom to chat while they waited. Once Duke heard his name being called, Audrey jumped up and slid into one of the hidden compartments while Duke went to get him. He was back a minute later and said, “He’s alone. You can come out.” 

She slid out of the hiding place and went over to give Vince a hug. “It’s great to see you,” she said happily. 

“Audrey? My dear, what happened to your hair?” he asked curiously as he hugged her back. 

“That’s a long story,” she chuckled. “Why don’t you sit?” she offered. 

“I’ll go ahead and start lunch,” Duke offered, getting a nod from her. 

Once she and Vince were sitting, Audrey told him, “I’m not sure how much you told yourself in the letter. You wouldn’t let me read it.”

“I told myself the overall picture. The barn was destroyed, troubles out of hand, great evil, but very little in the way of details, so you can start the story wherever you wish.” 

“Okay so I’ll start with the barn being destroyed. When that happened I was already inside and time is strange in there. Duke jumped in to try and get me out once it started dying, and he said it felt like seconds to him before he was spit out six months later. It felt like a lifetime to me, but that could have been because I was already being implanted with the new life when the final collapse happened and Duke and Nathan just barely managed to get me out in time. I was left with two sets of memories, but they hadn’t gotten around to overwriting Audrey as the dominant, much less replacing her. The hair had already changed though and I decided it was easiest to keep it for now to help Duke differentiate between us. I’ll go back to my normal blonde after the other Audrey goes into the barn and I can come out of hiding.” 

“So you plan to stay here? What if that interferes with the barn?” Vince asked worriedly. 

“That was one of our concerns too and I had the chief get the information out of Howard and it turns out that it won’t. In fact, I /can’t/ go into the barn. Only the same version that came out can go back in and since I’m part Lexi now, it won’t work for me,” she explained. “The barn will work the way it should for her though. But we still don’t know if I will disappear once time catches up to itself or not. That we’ll have to wait and see.” 

“I see. That is some story,” Vince said as he took it all in. “And you have been back here since the original Audrey arrived in Haven?” 

“No, actually. My ride missed the mark a bit and I was four months late. I got here a year ago today,” she told him. 

“And what all have you changed?” he asked curiously. 

“Mostly just dropping hints to solve the troubles to prevent as much of the destruction as possible, but some have been important enough events that we had to let play out the same as before,” she told him. “We also managed to prolong the chief’s life by a little over two months. He would have died the same day Max Hansen did. Other than him, there are a few people that are still alive that died last time and a little less damage overall.”

“I see. And there have been no unintended side effects? No dominoes that we will need to watch out for?” he asked. 

“Not that I know of and I’ve been keeping a close watch on the paper and Duke’s been keeping me updated daily,” she told him. “I do hope that your note told you that Duke isn’t the enemy, right?” 

“It did. I’m reserving judgment on the subject, but will cease hostilities in the meantime,” Vince told her. 

“You realize I’m right here right?” Duke asked wryly from the galley area. 

“I’m aware,” Vince said almost amused before turning back to Audrey and getting back on point. “Keeping Nathan away from the barn…I assume you have some sort of plan for that?” 

“Not a plan so much as an idea,” Duke cut in, setting three plates on the table and sliding in next to Audrey. 

“We know we want to keep him locked up and/or sedated until the barn is well away. There are options we could use for that, but if you or any of the more trusted guard members have better ones, we’ll definitely listen.”

“We do actually. There is an old guard safehouse that is not currently in use. It was used to house some of the more…feral, troubles. The bars and chains will easily hold against any human. He will not be able to escape there. He would need to be sedated for the trip though and I doubt any guard member will be able to get close enough to do so,” Vince told them. 

“I can,” Duke sighed. “Nathan doesn’t exactly trust me per se, but he won’t be expecting any kind of physical attack. I can get close enough to either sedate him or knock him out then your guys can take over from there.” 

“If all goes like it did last time, Nathan will trust you by then, so you should have even less problem,” Audrey pointed out. 

“Duke! Are you here?!” Nathan’s voice called out and Duke quickly got up allowing Audrey to slip out of the booth and into the hiding space just in time as he came in. “Vince? What are you doing here?” he asked confused. 

“We were just talking about…um…” Vince glanced around. 

“Fishing,” Duke jumped to the rescue with the first lie he could think of. “I actually caught a swordfish near here last week and since they don’t usually venture up this far north…”

“Yes I thought it might make a decent human interest piece or perhaps even investigate why they are here,” Vince added. 

“Right…okay…” Nathan said suspiciously, but dropped it before getting to the reason for his visit. “I found this in my dad’s things,” he handed Duke a sealed letter with his name on it. “Thought I should get it to you as soon as possible in case it has something to do with the big secret you two had,” he said pointedly. 

“What secret? There was no secret,” Duke said with a shrug. 

“Uh-huh. Sure there wasn’t,” Nathan said skeptically. “I’ll let you get back to your other ‘not a secret’ and we’ll talk about this later.” 

Once he left Vince whispered, “Are you sure he didn’t leave a bug or anything?” 

“Turn off your phone,” Duke said, a little louder than necessary for the benefit of Audrey so she would do the same. Once he gave them enough time for that, he went into the kitchen out of sight for a moment before heading out to check and make sure Nathan left and then came back. “Okay you can come out now Audrey and you can turn your phones back on.”

“Why did we have to turn them off?” Vince asked curiously as Audrey came out and returned to her seat. 

“I just scrambled anything broadcasting an active signal within twenty feet of the boat,” he told him, knowing that Audrey already knew of that feature. 

“I see. I’m sure that comes in handy in your line of work,” Vince said with a nod, having quite a bit more respect for Duke’s skills. 

“Let’s just say there’s a reason no one’s ever gotten enough on me to put me behind bars,” he smirked. 

“Back to the subject…” Vince said seriously. “Aside from the help to keep Nathan away from the barn, what is it you need from me?” 

“I need to be kept in the loop on what’s going on. Duke is pretty good with that, but he can’t be everywhere. Losing the eyes and ears in the PD is a blow, but you’re almost as good at knowing everything going on,” Audrey told him. 

“That I can do,” Vince nodded and they exchanged phone numbers. 

“I have her in my phone as Fay,” Duke told him. 

“Stands for future Audrey,” Vince nodded and decided to do the same. 

“I also need you to keep the guard in check. Last time around they were more than a little heavy handed about trying to force me into the barn whether I wanted to go or not. Including kidnapping a little girl with a mind control trouble in case she was needed.”

“But you’re immune to the troubles that affect the mind,” Vince said confused. 

“Apparently not all of them know that,” Audrey said wryly. “Their confrontations made everything so much worse and were completely unnecessary. It might have even contributed to what Nathan did. Putting him in a combative state of mind right off the bat since they had us surrounded with guns.”

“I will see what I can do,” Vince promised. “But you’re sure that nothing you’ve changed will change her decision?”

“As soon as she understands /why/ she has to go and what the consequences are if she doesn’t she will absolutely go. She couldn’t do anything less. The problem will be if she lets someone convince her that there’s another way which is why we’re trying to keep any discoveries she makes on the same timetable as last time so that she doesn’t figure it out soon enough to tell someone that will try and convince her of that.”

“And that’s where I come in,” Duke spoke up. “She confides in me, and I’ll be helping her to figure everything out so if someone does come to her with something like that, she’ll tell me, and we can do damage control.”


	33. Chapter 33

“You said something before about dropping hints for her,” Vince asked Duke. 

“Only the same hints as I did last time. Audrey…this Audrey…is coaching me on what to tell her and when,” Duke explained. 

“Are there any hints that I need to drop?” Vince asked. 

“No,” she shook her head. “You were always infuriatingly unwilling to tell me anything other than confirming what I’d already figured out,” she chuckled. “I’m not sure if I’ve yelled at you for that yet, but I’m sorry. I get now why you had to play it the way you did.”

“It is not an easy role to play,” Vince sighed. “But it is a necessary one.”

“I don’t think I really understood that until I was in your shoes,” she said understandingly. 

“Now onto what will happen after the barn. I assume that you plan to reinsert yourself into your life here?” Vince asked, having picked up on that much. 

“That’s the plan, yeah. For those who don’t know about the barn, it will just be like nothing happened. Those who do outside this room are limited to Dave and however many of the guard know and Nathan. Once it’s over, we’ll tell Nathan everything. I’ll leave you to decide how much to tell Dave. As far as the guard, I’m sure you can come up with some story as to why I’m still here and the troubles are gone.”

“You don’t want them to know about the time travel?” Vince asked. 

“The time travel I don’t mind. I don’t want them to know who destroyed the barn, how, or why. Nor do I want them to think that I decided not to go last time around. I don’t want any grudges carrying over from any of the loose cannons. Whether you can work a believable story without those facts is up to you but let me know what the story is so I don’t slip up.” 

“I will consider the matter and see what I can work with,” Vince nodded in acceptance, completely understanding her stance. “Is there anything else I should know or be prepared for?”

“A lot of these next couple months will be different,” she realized. “I forgot that I also arranged for the death of someone that caused a lot of damage between now and the barn. Just keep me updated on anything that does come up and I’ll point you in the right direction to drop the necessary hints.” 

“Just one more question…”

“Shoot,” she told him. 

“How far are you willing to go to ensure that she goes into the barn should any of these changes you’ve made cause a domino effect?” he asked seriously. 

“As far as I have to short of gunpoint or mind control. Even if it means meeting with her myself and coming clean about the future,” Audrey told him. 

“Good enough,” Vince agreed. “Then I believe I will take my leave and allow you to return to hiding.” He got up and turned to Duke who was still leaning against the counter since Nathan’s visit. “Thank you for lunch, Duke,” he said politely before leaving. 

Once he was gone, Audrey asked, “So the chief left you a letter?” 

“I think we should get back to the hideaway before I read it,” he said simply. “The longer we’re here the more likely that someone else will come here looking.”

“Okay. That’s smart,” she told him, reaching up to run a hand through his hair and give him a quick kiss before he headed out to get them moving and she relaxed on the couch with a book during the almost an hour trip until he came back and picked up the letter, coming to sit next to her. She leaned against his side for comfort as he opened it. Along with a letter, there was another envelope addressed to ‘Fay’. Apparently, the chief had taken Duke’s suggestion for an alias too. She personally would have suggested Lexi, but it wasn’t like it mattered much. 

Both of the letters were short and mostly just thanked them for helping him and giving him however much extra time he’d managed to get. He told them both that he was proud of them and glad to have known them and told Duke that, regardless of his lifestyle, he was a good man and that he was glad that he’d gotten a chance to see that. All of that information of course was given in back-handed compliments and wrapped around almost insults in the chief’s normal manner, but they could both read between the lines and it meant a lot to both of them. 

Duke stuck around for dinner and then some after dinner fun before heading back to Haven, knowing that the next trouble could hit any day now. He was just glad that he’d gotten to spent at least a little bit of time with her on their /actual/ anniversary. He’d also gone ahead and gotten her the picture frames she wanted and couldn’t wait until this weekend to see what she’d done with them. 

Sure enough, the next day he got the call he’d been dreading, not that he’d known it was that one at first. “Hey Duke…you know how you said to call you if I needed /anything/?” the current timeline Audrey asked. 

“What do you need? Name it,” he told her. 

“I could use some help on a case if you’re not too busy,” she said hopefully. 

“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” he promised. It only took about two minutes into the explanation before he knew that this was the one and the chase was on. He knew where they eventually found him, but he hoped they could catch up with him sooner this time, so he made sure to point Audrey at the right places. It didn’t do much good though since they still got to him at the same time since she insisted on stopping to update Nathan after every step and he didn’t know how to prevent that without making her suspicious. 

Nathan ended up joining them once they knew where he actually was and they managed to save the kid like they did last time and then Audrey was telling Nathan to get the kid out of there and that she only needed Duke and that they could handle this. Duke knew what he had to do, but that didn’t mean that he was going to let her think he was taking this lightly or that she had the right to make that decision for him like she was trying to do, so he definitely argued it. “What do you mean we’ll handle this?” he asked pointedly. 

“I’m sorry, Duke. I really am,” Audrey told him earnestly.

“You didn’t need me to help find him. You needed me to kill him.” He wanted to make sure that he knew what she had done. That he knew how she’d tried to play him. 

“There are scores of other kids out there,” Audrey tried to reason. “They are just going to die, but they are going to kill their families too, and you are the only one that can stop that.”

“You have /no right/ to put this on me,” he snapped.

“His organs are failing,” Audrey pointed out. “He’s going to die. There’s nothing that we can do about that. But you can kill his curse before he goes.” She pulled her gun and went to hand it to him.

Duke couldn’t believe that she was actually doing this. Just handing her his gun and expecting him to be her personal executioner just because she said so. The future Audrey had warned him, but being put in this position was entirely different. “What is that? No!” He slapped the gun out of her hand. “The entire time, I was helping you…you were planning this,” he said with revulsion. If he was going to do this it wouldn’t be like that. So cold and impersonal from twenty feet away. He couldn’t make it that easy. Not if he was going to be able to keep fighting this curse. He had no idea how he’d done it last time. Apparently, he’d never been willing to talk about afterwards, and he could definitely understand why. He knew how he had to do it this time though. He’d spent a lot of time thinking about it. 

“No. Not at first. Then I saw the photos of all of those kids at the fertility clinic. All of those kids that would die, or worse, and I /knew/…I knew that you were the only answer,” she begged him to understand. “Then I thought that if you could see the kind of monster that you were dealing with…”

“That I would want to become one too?” he asked pointedly. “This wasn’t your decision to make.”

Audrey took a few deep breaths as she realized her mistake and nodded slowly. “You’re right,” she admitted with tears in her eyes. “Walk away. Whatever happens I’ll deal with it.”

“No,” Duke shook his head. “You’re right that it needs to be done. But you did /not/ have the right to take that decision away from me. I am /not/ your personal executioner and I won’t let you treat me like one. I’m doing this because /I/ know that it’s the only way. Understand?” 

“Yeah. I get it. I’m sorry, Duke,” she said shakily. 

“You walk away. I’ll handle this,” he told her, hands already shaking at the very thought of what he was about to do. 

“No, you shouldn’t have to do this alone,” she said sadly, putting a hand on his shoulder in solidarity. 

“I can’t do this if you’re here, Audrey. Not with you watching. Please,” his voice wavered with the words. 

“Okay,” she sighed. “I’ll be right through there,” she told him.

Duke just nodded and waited until she walked away before he walked over and knelt next to him. “I’m sorry, Harry,” he whispered as he put his hand over the man’s nose and mouth. “I hope you rest easy knowing that this will save the rest of your family,” he choked out as the man struggled weakly, no match for Duke’s strength even without the blood coming from the man’s mouth supercharging him. “I’m sorry,” Duke said again, a single tear falling from his eye. 

Audrey hadn’t gone as far as Duke thought and was watching through the trees. She had to strain to hear his words and felt the tears pulling from her eyes as she did. How could she have ever thought that putting this on Duke of all people was a good idea? Duke who always felt things so much deeper than he let on. Duke who had the gentlest soul she’d ever known no matter how hard he tried to hide it. The one who never used violence unless he wasn’t given a choice. When he got up and walked past her, not even seeming to see her and she could see the tear-tracks under his red-rimmed eyes, she felt like even more of a villain than Harry Nix. She wasn’t completely surprised to see his boat gone when she got home that night and she just hoped and prayed that he would be okay when he came back. And that she hadn’t lost his friendship forever.


	34. Chapter 34

Future Audrey had gotten a call from Vince letting her know about the organ harvester trouble, so she fully expected Duke to be there that night. There was a chance that he’d be okay enough to just call, but she doubted it. That’s why she was making enough dinner for two and something that could be just as good cold or reheated. When it was done, she just turned the oven off and headed out to the porch to wait and sure enough it was only ten minutes later when she saw the Cape Rouge coming into view. She rushed out to the dock and tied her off while Duke shut her down and then met her on the deck. 

Duke managed to hold it together until he got back to the boat. Then, somehow, he managed to hold it together until he got there. The second she took him in her arms though that was the end of his strength and he choked a sob as his knees buckled and he buried his face in her neck. He felt her maneuver him to the futon a few steps away and then they were sitting, and his tears continued to fall as the sobs wracked through his body. 

Audrey felt her heart tearing in two at the state he was in as she ran her hands through his hair and pressed kisses to his head. She could feel his arms around her trembling as fast as his breaths. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” she whispered. “It’ll be okay. I’ve got you.” God, how hard this was hitting him. Had it been as bad last time? Had he gone through this alone then? Had he broken as completely as he was now with no one to hold him and tell him it was okay? 

Duke wasn’t even together enough to be embarrassed at the way he was falling apart. All he could see was the fear in that man’s eyes. Watching the life fade from them. Feeling the weak struggles as he tried to breathe. Tried to fight. To get just one more breath. He felt like he knew that feeling right now because he could barely breathe, but every gasp he managed was one that he’d denied the man he killed. He just clung to the only thing he could. His anchor. She wouldn’t let him drown. She wouldn’t let him fall. 

“I’m here, sweetheart,” she whispered as her own tears fell into his hair. “I’m here and I’ve got you. Always.” Had anyone ever been here for him before? Had he ever had anyone to hold him together like this in his life? Had he ever trusted anyone enough to let them? She doubted it. She vowed to be that for him forever. God how could she have ever asked this of him? How could he have asked it of himself? The future him had to have known how bad it was and he was still willing to take it on. Did he know that she would be there like this? That he would let her? “Everything’s gonna be okay,” she vowed. 

“N-never again,” he gasped out, anguish dripping from every word. “I can’t…please…never again…” He could still feel the blood on his hands. He could hear the cries of those children, looking for their father. He could still see those eyes. Those cold dead eyes staring back at him. He didn’t think he would ever stop seeing those eyes. 

“Never again,” she promised. “I swear, Duke. You’ll never have to do this again. I’ll never ask you again. I’m so sorry.” Her words were as shaky as his as she held him tightly, hand continuing to trail through his hair. Even if a situation like this were to ever come up again, she would never ask it of him. She would make the kill herself. She would carry a thousand deaths on her conscience to save him from even one more. She would do anything he needed her to do. Be anything he needed her to be. She would carry the weight of the entire world to save him from it. She knew he would never let her though. His shoulders were made to carry these burdens and he wasn’t the kind of person who could let someone carry them for him. Especially her. He would save her just as much as she would save him. But he would let her save him. That was the important thing. That was all that mattered. He was here. He was giving her all of himself, good and bad. He was laying himself bare and trusting her to catch him and that was everything. “I love you so much, Duke Crocker. For /all/ that you are. I love you,” she whispered as his sobs turned to sniffles and then to snores. She smiled sadly, not even caring that it was October in Maine and would be cold. He always kept thermal blankets out here anyway. She just had to reach one. She had to use her foot, but she managed and pulled it over them tightly. “I’m here and I’ll never let you go,” she vowed as she shifted them both to a more comfortable position and closed her own eyes. 

Duke woke up a few hours later from the cold and took a moment to realize where he was and why and how he’d gotten here. He realized that he was laying half on top of Audrey who was also sleeping and he took a few deep breaths as the memories washed over him before he got up and lifted her in his arms, carrying her into the cabin and laying her in bed. He remembered the way he’d fallen apart on her and the way she just picked up the pieces and held him together until he could do it himself. He was surprised at how much he had trusted her to do that. He hadn’t even been able to think before. He had just come straight here. Straight to her. Almost instinctively. And she had been his anchor yet again. 

He had already removed her shoes and was working on her coat when she started to stir. “Shh, it’s okay sweetheart. Just go back to sleep,” he whispered softly getting a soft hum in response before she did just that. He got out of his own coat and shoes and stripped his shirts off too before sliding into bed next to her, taking her in his arms and just letting her scent wash over him and soothe his soul. As much as it could be soothed right now at least. It didn’t take long for him to be back asleep, not that he slept well, cold dead eyes staring accusingly at him through his dreams. It was better than he would have expected though. 

For once, Audrey woke first the next morning and the change of scenery took a moment to register with her. She realized that Duke must have woken up at some point and carried her in here. She turned to look at him, seeing the tear-tracks still streaking his face, and she reached over to run a hand gently through his hair as even in his sleep he clung to her like his life depended on it. She pressed a feather-soft kiss to his forehead as she waited for him to wake up, wondering what state he would be in when he did. Usually when things hit him like this, he would take a day to feel it and then shove it all back until it eventually faded, but this was the worst she’d ever seen him. It might take more than a day. His strength had never ceased to surprise her before though. 

Duke woke to the feel of hands trailing through his hair and pulled her tighter for a moment before shifting to look at her. “G’mrng,” he slurred sleepily. 

“I didn’t wake you did I?” she asked worriedly. 

He shook his head, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. “Never sleep this late,” he told her as he glanced at the clock. 

“You needed it,” she whispered, brushing her hand down his tear-stained cheek. “How are you?” 

“You know me. Nothing ever keeps me down,” Duke chuckled ruefully. 

“No. It doesn’t,” she smiled sadly before saying a soft, “Thank you.”

“For what?” 

“For coming here. For…trusting me. For letting me in. Letting me help…”

“There’s no one else I could ever…” he trailed off, letting her get the meaning that he couldn’t find words for as he leaned over and kissed her soft and slow and the lovemaking that followed was the same. Gentle, sweet, and said far more than words ever could and they lay there for a little while afterwards before he started to get up to start breakfast as he said, “I should probably head back after breakfast.”

Audrey grabbed his wrist before he could get far and used that to pull herself up too as her other hand went to his cheek. “Don’t?” she asked gently. 

“I need to be available remember. There’s things and conversations and the troubles and…”

“I don’t care,” she cut him off. “I don’t care about any of that right now. All I care about is you. Just stay for today. You can head back tomorrow.” She could tell that he wasn’t nearly as steady as he was pretending to be. Not as steady as he usually was after something knocked him off kilter. 

“Are you sure there’s time?”

“We’ll /make/ time,” she assured him. “Stay.” She knew that it would be at least a few days before the next trouble popped up. She remembered how he’d basically drowned himself in alcohol for days last time around before picking himself back up so there would be time. If she could manage it she would get him to stay through the weekend too. 

“Okay,” he agreed, giving her another kiss before saying, “But I still want breakfast,” he chuckled, heading for the galley. 

“I’m not arguing with that,” she replied amusedly as she followed him.


	35. Chapter 35

After breakfast they headed into the house and Audrey told him that she had lunch covered. They’d never actually gotten around to dinner so it was still in the oven and would just need to be reheated. They jumped in the shower to get cleaned up, the hot water being better there than it was on the boat and Duke looked a lot better afterwards and he felt a lot better too. When they came out, his eyes caught sight of the new picture on the mantle and he smiled as he walked over to it, seeing them laughing and dancing. “The pictures came out pretty well huh?” he said as he reached a hand out to trail over it. 

“They really did,” she told him. “Did you want to see the rest of them?” 

“Maybe later,” he said absent-mindedly as his mind was occupied with something else. Something more important. Something that scared the hell out of him, but he wanted it more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. That was part of what scared the hell out of him. “I was thinking…” 

“About what,” she coaxed gently, seeing his nerves and wondering what it was about. 

“What if…when you came back to town…if you didn’t…” He paused to take a deep breath and screw up his courage. “What if you didn’t move back into your apartment?” 

She was starting to get an idea of what he was asking, but needed to hear the words before she could answer. She walked over and wrapped an arm around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder as she looked at the picture with him. “Where were you thinking I would live instead?” 

“On the Cape Rouge? With…with me?” he managed to say. 

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” she told him with a bright smile as she looked up at him and their eyes met just a few moments before their lips did. 

“God, I love you so much, Audrey,” he breathed out, resting his forehead against hers. 

“I love you too, Duke. More than I could ever have imagined,” she replied just as softly. They spent the rest of the day completely wrapped up in each other. While the incident was never mentioned, it stayed just below the surface and she could see it in the way that he reached out just a little more strongly. The way he hugged her a little tighter. The way he sought reassurance and love in the subtle gestures, and she gladly gave him everything he needed and more. By the time they went to bed that night, he was much closer to normal and she knew that he would be okay from there. She was more than glad that he’d taken that extra day though. He’d needed it. 

After breakfast the next morning, he headed out, despite the fact that he would be back for his scheduled trip the next day. They’d gotten quite a bit more time together this week than normal, but they both wished that it was under better circumstances. He spent most of the day managing the restaurant and realized that evening that the current timeline Audrey was avoiding him. He knew she wasn’t mad at him though. Even if her future self hadn’t told him that, the sad and apologetic looks she kept sending him would have been enough. The next morning, he did his usual shopping trip and was headed right back to the hideaway. He still wasn’t completely back to normal, though he was steady enough to be back on his own feet. Being with his girlfriend could only help though. 

Audrey got a call from Vince on Sunday about twenty minutes after Duke had left about a shark in the community center pool and she thanked him for letting her know and then kept an eye on the clock for when Duke would be back in cell range before calling him to loop him in. Given how much quicker Vince usually got the news than anyone else, the timing would probably end up being about the same since Duke had managed to hear about it through the grapevine before. She’d already let him know the who, what, and enough of what she remembered of the where that he was able to piece it together just as easily as he had last time. It was just a matter of getting them there without raising suspicion about how he knew. 

Duke headed for the community center and just let himself past the police tape, not at all surprised when Nathan was very much not happy to see him. “What are you doing here?” Nathan asked distastefully.

“Heard there was a monster in the pool. Thought I’d come check it out…you know…concerned citizen and all,” he focused on Nathan, letting Audrey continue to avoid him for the moment, but it didn’t last long. 

“Duke?” Audrey walked up worriedly. “What are you doing here?” She was glad that he looked a little more put-together than the last time she’d seen him, but he was still more than a little tense. 

“He was just leaving,” Nathan ordered.

“Just staying,” Duke smirked.

“This is a police investigation. You’re not a cop,” Nathan said smugly.

“You wanted my help last time,” he slowly turned to look at Audrey. “Isn’t that right…Audrey?”

“We don’t even know that it’s a trouble,” she pointed out nervously. She just wasn’t sure how to face him anymore after what had happened. After seeing how badly she’d hurt him. 

Duke looked around at the blood filled pool and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, we do.” He started walking around the pool checking things out.

“He just shows up? Thinks he can do what he wants?” Nathan asked Audrey incredulously. “He just killed a guy.”

“Only because I asked him to,” Audrey pointed out, unwilling to let Duke take the fall for that.

“You sure about that?” Nathan asked accusingly. When Audrey just rolled her eyes, Nathan kept trying. “When he transforms he gets a rush. You’ve seen it for yourself.”

“He didn’t ask for what happened to him,” Audrey replied.

“That doesn’t mean he’s not gonna learn to like it,” Nathan snapped, walking away before Audrey could respond.

Duke grit his teeth as he heard that conversation and forced himself to ignore it. He was still more than a little skeptical about the idea that Nathan would ever judge him fairly for anything, but at least Audrey knew better. When he refused to leave and all but demanded that they let him help with the case, Audrey reluctantly agreed and he headed to the station to meet with them. 

Duke could see Audrey and Nathan arguing when they came out of the building and judging by the looks Nathan kept sending him, clearly it was about him. “Bout time. Scooby van was about to leave without you two,” he quipped. 

Nathan got up in his face. “Duke, I know what you did saved lives…but I know you. And I don’t trust that that’ll be the end of it.”

“Nathan, I don’t think this is about you not trusting me,” Duke had to point out, choosing to ignore the mention of what he’d done. “I think you’re pissed…because Audrey does.”

It wasn’t until the sand crabs covered Daphne’s neighbor that he got an opportunity to point them in the right direction. “You know…troubles are usually triggered by something big right? Fear, grief, anger…”

“Where are you going with this?” Audrey asked curiously. 

“Well, so far we’ve seen this chick Daphne’s patient and her neighbor. Not sure where the other guy fits in yet, but I’ll bet there’s a connection somewhere. The best bet, given what’s happening would be fear right? So wherever she is, she’s scared of sharks, sand crabs, waves…” 

“That’s…actually a pretty good idea…but it doesn’t help us narrow it down,” she told him. 

“Maybe it does,” Duke shrugged. “I mean, if she’s that scared and not leaving then she must be trapped right? Now aside from things like sinkholes and rockslides which are pretty rare and we probably would have seen other signs of, a car accident would be the most likely yeah?” 

“Yeah, I get that, but how does that help narrow it down?” she asked curiously. 

“Simple. We look at her usual routes. Home to work. See where they intersect an area without guardrails, near a washout zone with sand crabs, but still has deep enough water for the shark,” Duke said as though it should be obvious. 

“And you just came up with that all on your own?” Nathan asked suspiciously. 

“It’s just common sense,” Duke tried to brush him off, realizing he might have been a little more heavy-handed than he should have been. 

“Common sense. Right,” Nathan scoffed before turning to the maps that Audrey had already pulled out and they started going through. It didn’t take long to pinpoint the right area and they rushed that way. 

When Nathan and Audrey started arguing about who was going to go down there, Duke took the initiative, knowing that this was his chance to prove…to himself as much as them…that this curse of his could be used for good. He had no idea how he was going to manage to hold back the bloodlust enough to save her and not hurt her, but he trusted the future Audrey when she told him that he could and did last time around.


	36. Chapter 36

Duke noticed Nathan try and shoot him and Audrey stop him and just ignored it as he rushed over to Daphne. He tried in vain to calm her down before moving to the other side of the car, stopping to warn Nathan and Audrey that she was going to cause a rockslide so they could get back. He saw Audrey yell something to him but he couldn’t hear what with all the wind and waves and rocks falling, so he just got back to what he was doing. He saw the blood in the water, which explained the shark circling as close as it could get and he stuck his hand in the water soaking up the blood. 

When he stood up to get his knife out of his pocket, he saw Nathan start to raise his gun again, but Audrey stopped him again and then he was cutting her seatbelt and tearing the car apart enough to get her out. He carried her towards the cliff and had her cling to his back while he used the last of his super-strength to climb them to the top where an ambulance was waiting for her. When Nathan tried to say something to him, Duke just walked away without a word. Accusing him of being a murderer was bad enough. Raising his gun to kill him, not once, but twice was even worse and he couldn’t even talk to him right now. 

He was almost back to the boat when he got a call from Daphne asking him to come by the hospital. He sighed when he ran into Audrey there, but wasn’t about to turn and walk away. “Duke,” she said happily and a little nervously. “I didn’t know you were gonna be here.”

“Daphne asked me to come by,” he said quickly, not wanting her to think he was being a creepy stalker and following her around. “So she could say thank you, I guess. How is she?”

Claire was the one to answer. She knew about the problems that Audrey and Duke were having right now since Audrey had come to her for advice, and she wanted to word it in such a way that it would help Duke understand how Audrey was feeling too. “She’s wrapping her head around the fact that she’s responsible for hurting and killing people she cared about.”

“Yeah, that’s gonna be a hard thing to live with,” he said distractedly as his eyes met Audrey’s and he could see the apologies written there that she didn’t know how to say. 

Claire glanced between them a few times before saying, “I’m gonna…go recheck her vitals.”

Once they were alone, the spell was broken, and Audrey said, “Hey I wanted to say…say thank you. For helping us find Daphne alive…we couldn’t have done it without you.”

“And thank you for not killing her,” Duke guessed. “I mean, I gonna…just assume that’s implied.”

“Of course not,” Audrey said.

Duke didn’t completely believe her. He was sure that he’d seen doubt in her eyes at more than one point today. Just because she trusted him enough not to act on it or push it away quickly didn’t mean that it didn’t exist. “I mean…Nathan can think whatever he wants. I don’t care, but…you’re the one who /asked/ me to kill that man. Asked me to do something that I said I would /never/ do.”

“I know,” she said guiltily. “This is…it’s all my fault.” The fact that Nathan was even more distrusting and hateful than ever. The fact that Duke was feeling so horrible.

“No. That’s just it,” Duke shook his head and looked straight at her. “It was my decision. That’s why I wanted to be on this case, Audrey. To show you that my family’s legacy does not control me. And neither do you,” he finished harshly. And to prove it to himself. He had to know. He had to use this curse for something good after what he’d just done. He had to /see/ that it wasn’t all bad. That /he/ wasn’t all bad. 

“I know,” Audrey said simply as she turned to walk away. 

When he turned around and Claire was there, Duke let out an annoyed huff. He was so not in the mood to be psychoanalyzed. “Don’t even think about it,” he told her. 

“Wouldn’t dare,” she said almost amused, waiting until he’d passed her and obviously thought he was in the clear before she stopped him. “But…just wondering…you know, how much of this was about you worrying that Audrey…sees you differently now?” 

“I don’t worry about what Audrey thinks of me,” Duke told her honestly. He already knew what Audrey thought of him. Both now and in the future. There was nothing to worry about. 

“Just keep telling yourself that,” Claire said perkily before turning to bounce away and Duke rolled his eyes after her. She didn’t have a clue. 

During his nightly talk with the future Audrey that night, he started by letting her know how the case went and that they’d managed to save the guy that had died last time by getting to her before she got him. Audrey couldn’t remember what the next case was off the top of her head, but when Duke called her a few days later about a crazy lady slashing his tires and scratching up his truck before disappearing into thin air, she remembered and gave him the pertinent information and even threw in the information about the late night talk they’d had while he was in protective custody. After a little discussion, they decided not to change much until after that talk. Partially because that talk was important for them, but mostly because Duke had gotten more than a little heavy with the information on the last case and Nathan was already suspicious. They didn’t need to give him any more and it wouldn’t be until the next day that they got a reasonable clue that could lead that direction. 

Duke wasn’t looking forward to provoking Lady Justice and ending up with a sword to his throat, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d been in that position. It wouldn’t even be the first time he was in that position with a sword. He trusted Audrey that it would all work out and that she would never suggest it if she doubted that for a second. Thankfully she was right and it all went according to plan. He had at least managed to talk down the woman conjuring her though. To convince her that she wasn’t a bad person and that she didn’t deserve to be punished. He told her that he couldn’t imagine how hard it must be for her to sit in the courtroom every day hearing about crimes that people just walk away from. Once Lady Justice was back in the painting, without her, Audrey talked her into finding a new job to keep her trouble at bay. Duke even offered her a job at the Gull if she needed one. But only if she stopped trying to judge him. She told him she would think about it and thanked him. Telling him that he really was a good man, despite his crimes. “Why does everyone keep saying that?” Duke muttered caught between annoyed and amused. “Don’t they realize what it does to my reputation?”

Audrey snickered at him and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “Because it’s true,” she told him before heading out of the courtroom. She had some things to do at the station and the next day, she called Duke in to sign off on all of his tickets being taken care of. The ones that he hadn’t already argued his way out of at least. It was the least she could do for him. 

When he called the future Audrey that night and told her about it, she just laughed outright at him. “Anyone who can’t see how good of a man you are is a blind fool. It’s about time people started opening their eyes.” 

“You’re supposed to be on my side,” he mock-pouted. 

“I will when your side makes sense, dearest,” she teased and he blew her a raspberry. The next day was time for his next trip out and she was more than glad to see him completely recovered from the awful incident last week. She knew it was still in there. Buried down deep along with so many other awful things that he tried to forget about, but it wasn’t bothering him so much anymore. He even slept without the nightmares that he’d had the last weekend that she only knew about because of how restless his sleep had been and the stress lines in his face as he twisted around in the bed. 

Tuesday night they’d ended up in a haunted house. On Halloween of all times. He’d been trapped there with Audrey and Claire, and then later on Nathan had come to their rescue only to be trapped along with them and it was a nightmare, and resulted in Audrey almost dying thanks to repressed memories from Lucy popping up, but they made it through. And Audrey had another piece of the puzzle she needed. When she asked him on Friday if he could come to Colorado with her to try and track it down, he easily agreed and sent a quick text to the future Audrey. ‘Headed to CO. Be late this week. Not sure if I can call.’

It wasn’t long before he got a text back with ‘have fun,’ and a winking emoji and he rolled his eyes, wondering what that meant. She’d been relatively tightlipped about the trip though she had told him it was coming. He could see the glint of mischief in her eyes when it was brought up so he knew it wasn’t a nasty secret kind of thing, so he was willing to let it go and be surprised. She did at least tell him what all had been learned there so he wouldn’t risk spilling too much, so that was a plus.


	37. Chapter 37

Duke got the flight booked and headed to the station to pick Audrey up, interrupting what was clearly a rather intense conversation between her and Nathan as he knocked on the doorframe. “Uh…flight leaves in two hours so we should…” he jerked his head towards the door. 

“He’s driving you to the airport?” Nathan asked, hoping that was all it was. 

Duke couldn’t pass up a chance to wind Nathan up so he just smirked as he said, “Nope. Going all the way to Colorado.” 

“You said that one of us should stay behind and that I shouldn’t go alone,” Audrey tried to stop any brewing argument with reason. 

“Twenty-three days left and you have to spend two of them with Duke,” Nathan said wryly. 

“I give great moral support,” Duke replied flippantly. 

“Just take care of her,” Nathan told him. “Check in,” he added as he walked out. 

Duke furrowed his brow in confusion. That was weird. It almost seemed like Nathan trusted him to actually do that. Nathan trusting him at all was a miracle, but trusting him with Audrey was like saying the earth was flat. 

Audrey gave Duke a sheepish look, not wanting to mention that she and Nathan had a long talk about Duke and his trustworthiness and she’d laid down the law with him, so she just headed out the door waiting for him to follow. 

Once the plane landed it took them almost the entire day to track the leads down to a nursing home and when it was clear the old lady wasn’t giving them any answers, Duke swiped her photo album. He would give it back obviously, but maybe there were answers there that Audrey would need. Once they found the only motel in this tiny little town, they ended up with a room with one bed and Duke went out to try and get another room, or at least one with two beds while Audrey checked in with Nathan, but he didn’t have any luck. 

“Any luck finding another room?” Audrey asked as he came back in. 

“Ah... no,” Duke shifted uncomfortably, not sure why he was uncomfortable. It wasn’t like they hadn’t slept in the same room before. Maybe it was because this was a motel and that made everything different. “This is the last room in the house. Apparently, there...there's a lumberjack tournament in town,” he explained. “I'm not making that up. That is a real...It's really a thing here. I swear,” he felt the need to add. “And worse, there's no bar, so...”

“All right, well, uh, at least you have a couch to sleep on,” Audrey said helpfully, not sure if her nerves were feeding off his or were her own. 

“Lucky me,” Duke rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah. All right, so I was Lucy in the '80s, I was Sarah in the '50s,” she got down to work to get her mind off of it. “When I was Lucy, I was in love with the Colorado Kid. And Sarah, maybe I helped to relocate Troubled people. But why did June think I was Sarah, and not Lucy?”

“You know, maybe... maybe...Sarah and old lady Cogan knew each other from way back,” Duke suggested, trying to get her on the right track and looking into Sarah’s relationship with her instead of Lucy’s. 

“Yeah, but there's...there's only one person that can help us with that, and that's June Cogan. And her memory is about as cooperative as mine,” Audrey said in frustration as she made up the couch for him to sleep on. 

“Her memories, maybe. But not her mementos,” Duke smirked pulling out the album before realizing how it would look. “Uh...I lifted this off of June Cogan's night table,” he admitted. 

“You took a photo album from an old woman?” she asked incredulously. 

“Well, it sounds much worse when you say it like that,” Duke winced before handing it over. “You can scold me later.”

“No way, this is the sweetest form of thievery ever,” she smiled sweetly at him as she took it. 

For the first time, Duke felt almost like he was with his Audrey with her. She would have had the same reaction. Just easy acceptance of his less than legit activities and seeing the purpose rather than the act. “I'm a sweet thief,” he shrugged amusedly as he sat next to her on the couch to look through them, getting his first look at the son of the woman he loved. “Baby photos, school pictures,” he muttered as they flipped through them. 

“James Cogan's life was really well documented,” she said in surprise. 

“Do you feel anything when you look at these? I mean, does he seem familiar?” Duke asked curiously. Something like maternal instinct, he didn’t say. 

“I know that I...I loved him, but I just...I don't... I don't know.

“Don't really see any Lucy or Sarah in there,” he pointed out before seeing what he would need to make sure she saw if she was going to get on the right track. “Wait, what's...The Colorado Kid got married.” When she just looked dumbfounded at him, he asked, “Is there a date?” as he pulled out the picture to look at the back of it. “Nineteen eighty three. His wife's name was Arla.”

“So if the Colorado Kid married Arla, then where does Lucy fit in, or Sarah for that matter?” Audrey asked confusedly.   
“Why don't we just focus on one past life at a time,” Duke said amusedly. They already knew Sarah was involved and she was going to talk herself in circles this way. “But look, I mean, marriages have records, you know? Let's go see what we can find out about Arla Cogan,” he suggested. Other than the fact that she had a skinwalker trouble and turned into a serial killer anyway. By that time it was late though so they called it a night and headed to bed. Duke took the opportunity while he was in the bathroom at one point to send the future Audrey a quick text with a simple. ‘Goodnight. Love you,” and he got an almost identical one returned. He couldn’t believe how much he missed her with just one night of not talking. The only time in over a year that had happened was when he’d been pissed at her after his trouble activated. They hadn’t always been able to talk long and sometimes not until later in the night, but they always talked for at least a few minutes every day. 

The next day was spent mostly tracking down any records they could find on both Arla Cogan and James Cogan and they grabbed dinner on the way back to the motel, snagging dessert from the vending machine and breaking out the beer they’d grabbed as they went through it all. 

Audrey could tell that Duke’s mind was working even as he appeared to be lounging and his attention seemed to be more on his beer and chips, which was why she was still trying to talk things out. “So, Arla Cogan, she killed herself when the Colorado Kid went missing. So he and Lucy, they...they never really had this big love affair.” When Duke didn’t seem to have anything to add, she got frustrated. “This... this whole thing, this is just... this is ridiculous. Look. When I first showed up to Haven, I was an FBI agent, I was looking into a case. I knew who I was. Life was good. It was good. And then I found out I had, what, not one, but two...two past lives, that I know of.” She got up, letting herself go into a rant. “Nothing is what I thought it was. The first past life I was completely wrong about, and the other one...the other one's still a mystery to me.”

Duke couldn’t help but smirk as she grabbed another beer. She was so adorable when she got worked up. “You know, if you want something stronger that, I saw Funyuns in the vending machine,” he joked. It was all he knew how to do since he couldn’t actually give her any answers.

“Funyuns, yes. Funyuns...” Audrey said with wide eyes.

“Yeah...” Duke tried to tamp down his amusement at her obvious excitement over the fact, but before he could say anything else she kept going.

She kneeled on the bed next to him as her mind started whirling. “And... and pizza, and... and hand-rolled cigars, and, uh... and skydiving, and those little... candy that's...the dispenser thing.

“Pez,” he supplied helpfully.

“I've never experienced that before.”

“I get it, okay? I've been saying that for a month,” Duke couldn’t hold back his amusement any longer. All those times he’d tried to get her to live a little and she picked now of all times to jump on the bandwagon.

“A month?” she asked incredulously.

“You want cigars? I got Cubans on the Cape Rouge,” Duke told her with a grin, knowing that she would hate them. At least her future self had when she’d tried them, and now he got why she’d wanted to. 

“A month,” she shook her head ruefully as she got back up and returned to pacing. “This is... this is hilarious, right? Right, you tell me about this Hunter meteor storm thing, you explain to me what it is, that I...that I go away, and I waste a whole month chasing what?”

Duke frowned as he sat up. That hadn’t been where he wanted this to go at all. “You didn't waste anything,” he said earnestly. “You know, you...you solved the Colorado Kid mystery. And you can handle…/we/ can handle anything that comes next,” because he would be right there beside her every step of the way. 

“Come on, Duke,” she rolled her eyes with a harsh laugh. “I-I got what, uh, 20 days left? No, I just...” she sighed and deflated, going to sit next to him. “I want to live my life,” she all but begged.

“Okay,” Duke agreed sadly. “However you want to do it, you know? You want to...help the Troubled, or you just want to live your life, I'm in.” Anything that would make this easier for her. Knowing what was coming for her, how little time she had left in this world, he would make it whatever she wanted. 

Audrey felt that same feeling that she always got when Duke was being his normal supportive self. That overwhelming love that just washed over her. Not that she didn’t feel it other times. She did. Every moment with Duke she fell more and more in love with him, but times like this…it was so hard to fight it. “You...you are an amazing friend,” she tried to remind herself of that last word. Friend.

“I'm just saying, you have choices,” Duke said gently, knowing how much she hated feeling powerless. He’d sat through enough rants on that subject and held her through enough breakdowns to know that. Not that this version would ever know that much. 

Audrey couldn’t let him just push aside how wonderful he was. No, he always did that and she was running out of time to get that across to him. “No, no, no, no, no, it's more than that. You're here. You... you just left everything, and you got on a plane, and you came here to Colorado with me.”

Duke turned to look at her, getting lost in her eyes as he had a tendency to often. Those eyes that were shining with the same love he saw from /his/ Audrey. “Audrey, I'd do anything you need me to,” he all but whispered. “Hunt down your past, face your future.” There was nothing that he wouldn’t do for her.

Audrey got just as lost in his eyes as she fought her feelings. “The past is gone. And the future…” she closed her eyes, trying to break the unbreakable moment, but when she opened them again, it was still there. Hanging heavily in the air. “thank God, it is not here yet. All we have is...” That was as far as she got before she couldn’t hold herself back anymore and closed the small distance between them.


	38. Chapter 38

The moment her lips met his, Duke fell into it. It was the most familiar thing he could have imagined and he almost believed that he could have this with her. That he could give her this to hold onto when she was gone, but as he slid her jacket off her shoulders, he realized that it wasn’t right. He couldn’t do this. He was trying to think of a way to stop this when she beat him to it. 

Audrey could feel Duke trying to pulling away and that was the bucket of cold water she needed and she jerked away and moved halfway across the room, trying to get herself under control and catch her breath. She caught Duke’s heavy exhale as he got up and took a few steps back too as he looked more than a little uncomfortable. “Uh...20 days, that's...that's not long enough for me to fix our friendship if I screw this up. So...I’m gonna go get some air,” she said, making her escape out the door before she damned the whole thing and pushed something he clearly didn’t want. How could she have been so stupid? 

Duke had no idea how far she had gone or how long she was going to be gone so he couldn’t risk making a phone call and just got ready for bed, despite how much missing a second phone call in a row was driving him crazy. Especially after that. Had she known that was going to happen? Was that what the sly looks and ‘have fun’ had been about? She had mentioned misunderstandings that prevented them from being together before the barn. Had this been what she meant? He was reasonably sure that she would have mentioned if they’d slept together here so had they stopped then too? The reason clearly wasn’t the same, so why? He had too many questions and as he laid down on the couch, they whirled through his head so fast he could barely keep up. He pretended to be asleep when she came back in about ten minutes later, glad that he hadn’t tried to make a phone call. They both needed a night to sleep on this before they could get back to their normal friendship. 

The next morning, she started getting packed up while he confirmed their flights back to Haven and got them both coffee. Once he gave her hers, and she made a joke about the scenery, he tilted his head to look at her curiously. “What? What are you looking at?” she asked with a chuckle, having never seen that particular look on his face before. 

“Just imagining you as a redhead,” he smirked. He’d seen her as a blonde obviously, and a light brown/dirty blonde. But redhead was a new one for him. “It’s hot.” Apparently that had been enough to spark an idea in her and they were rushing off to buy a red wig and making one last run at the nursing home before they left. He was glad when she got the information they needed. He had been wondering if he was going to have to start dropping more hints or manage to fake some evidence he’d dug up and then they were heading back home. 

As soon as they landed, he dropped her at her apartment and headed for the grocery store, making it as quick a trip as he could and then he was headed for the hideaway. A phone conversation wasn’t going to do it and he needed to bring her the groceries two days late anyway. He could keep from sweeping her up in a searing kiss the moment the boat was set and he breathed out, “God I missed you.” 

“I missed you too,” she whispered back, reveling in his presence. Not talking for two days had hit her just as hard as it had him. She always missed him desperately during the week when they were apart, but not even being able to talk had been a nightmare. Once they separated, they got the groceries inside and put away and she waited until that was done before draping herself across his lap, arms around his neck, and asked him with a smirk, “So, how was your trip?” 

That brought up the subject that Duke most needed to talk about. “You knew didn’t you?” he asked. 

“Knew what exactly?” she asked, hoping that he would tell her what happened. 

“That she was going to kiss me like that,” he clarified. 

“Yeah. I knew. Or at least that’s what I did last time,” she told him. “What happened after that?” 

“Nothing. We kissed for a minute, but…but she wasn’t you,” Duke sighed, leaning his forehead against her temple as a hand slid through her hair. 

“But she is me,” Audrey pointed out confused. 

“No. She’s not. Maybe she was at one time, but…see…when we were kissing, she just…couldn’t anticipate me the way you do. She didn’t know just the right way to tug on my hair. She didn’t know the spot on my lip that you always nibble.”

“She could learn those things,” Audrey pointed out. 

“It was more than that though,” Duke huffed, trying not to get irritated with her for not seeing. “She’s not…not the one who held me when I fell apart. Not the one who danced with me on our anniversary. Not the one who accepts me for all that I am, warts and all. We just…there’s not the same history there and it just…didn’t /feel/ right.” 

“Okay,” Audrey nodded. “I can see that. But you still love her though.” That much was obvious. 

“Yeah. I do. Of course I do. She’s still you in so many ways. Just…not the ways that I can be with, you know?” He twirled her hair around his fingers as he said sadly, “I’m sorry. I know you wanted this for her, but…”

“No, hey,” she pulled back to look at him seriously. “This was never about what /I/ wanted. Neither version of me. I never wanted you to feel pressured into anything.”

“Then what’s all this been about then? The maneuvering us together, all the talk about how she’s still you and…”

“I didn’t want you to feel guilty for loving her. I didn’t want you to feel like you had to choose. That was all. If you want to be with her, then go ahead, if not, then don’t. I want /you/ to be happy, Duke. To have everything you want. To not have to feel like you missed out on anything just because I’m here.” 

“/You/ make me happy, Audrey,” he assured her, pressing a short soft kiss to her lips. “You are all I need, and yes I love her, but I have her. Right here. As part of you. You’re just so much more than that too. A part that she’s missing and I can’t live without.” 

“I’m sorry,” she sighed, snuggling up to him. “I should have told you about it and let you make your own choice there before you were faced with it. It seems like I just keep making the same mistakes.”

“Okay, yeah, a heads up would have been nice, but this isn’t anywhere near the same thing. I /did/ make my own choice, Audrey. And even if I had known, I probably wouldn’t have changed anything. I didn’t realize just how I felt about it until the moment came and if it hadn’t happened, I would always have wondered, so I’m glad it happened the way it did. You didn’t try to force me into something that would hurt me. You didn’t try to force me into anything. You just let nature take its course. It’s a completely different situation,” he assured her. 

She nodded slowly, relaxing in his embrace before asking, “Will you still tell her you love her before she goes into the barn? Give her that to hold onto. That piece of mind?”

“Yeah. That I can definitely do,” Duke said softly. 

“And as a heads-up, she’s going to kiss you then too,” Audrey told him. 

“I can handle that part,” he chuckled. “It’s the rapidly heading for more that I have issues with.” 

“Well at least you can have that part with me,” she said suggestively, making him smirk as he kissed her deeply, standing up and carrying her to the bed where they spent the remainder of the time before he got up to cook dinner and then headed right back afterwards. 

He stayed a little longer than usual this time, through the entire next day and night, not leaving until after breakfast the following morning. He’d gotten quite a bit of information from Audrey on how these last two and a half weeks were going to go, though since a lot of it had involved Arla who was dead now and the guard who were being kept on a short leash by Vince, a lot of it was guesswork. As far as she could remember, there were only two more situations they would have to handle without that interference and one more possible one. She wasn’t sure if the little girl with the mind control trouble would still end up coming to Haven without the guard attempting to use her.


	39. Chapter 39

When Duke got back to Haven Tuesday morning, he headed into the Gull to check on things and make sure they were running smoothly. He wasn’t usually gone at the beginning of the week or for four days straight. He knew that soon enough he would be getting back to his normal work and be travelling more so wanted to make sure that his staff could handle things without him being there, so he just made a cursory check before he got started on the dreaded payroll. At least he was already in a good mood so it shouldn’t be so bad. 

The next morning, he took the current timeline Audrey coffee to see how she was handling all the revelations and they sat out on the balcony while they drank it. After a little bit of small talk, she seemed to be screwing up her courage for something and finally asked, “Where do you go every weekend?” 

Duke chuckled and shook his head. Of all the things to ask. “That isn’t exactly a question I’m in the habit of answering for cops. Even friendly ones.” 

“You don’t really think I would arrest you, do you? After everything we’ve been through?” she asked, almost hurt. 

“You wouldn’t?” Duke asked skeptically. He’d always figured it was the addition of the Lexi personality that had loosened his Audrey up to that degree. 

“No. I mean, maybe if you were actually hurting people, but since I know you don’t do that, I guess if I found out you were I’d be more interested in finding out what was wrong with you than arresting you so…no. I really wouldn’t,” she babbled a bit. 

Duke reached over and squeezed her hand with a smile as he said, “But I still wouldn’t put you in that kind of position with your job.” 

She could understand that when he put it that way, and she could tell that he believed her about not arresting him, so that was something. “Yeah, I guess that’s fair,” she admitted. She had just hoped to get him a little more figured out before she disappeared and whatever he did on the weekends was clearly a big part of his life. He’d had the same schedule with few variations, almost the entire time she’d known him. “I’m sorry I made you late for whatever it was this time.”

“It’s fine. I’m flexible that way,” he chuckled. It wasn’t like he ever let the future Audrey get so low on groceries and supplies that a few days either way would hurt. Never knew when a trouble would come up and keep him away, after all. Before anything more could be said, Nathan showed up to get her for a case. Not a trouble apparently, so that was a plus. It meant Duke could get some work done on the boat today. Hopefully. 

It ended up taking two days for him to get done everything that he wanted to, but on Friday he was pulling out his family journal to take a look. He knew that it was about time for his trip to the past and that something in here led him that way. Audrey had told him as much as she knew about it, but that wasn’t much. Apparently neither he nor Nathan ever really talked about it so he would just have to pretend that he knew nothing about it and consider what he would have done without the warning if he wanted to keep the timeline intact. When he saw that his grandfather’s part of the journal ended with a line about Stuart Mosely, he figured that was it and went to look the guy up and sure enough, he ended up back in nineteen fifty five. He instinctively saved the bartender’s life in the bar fight, and then hoped he’d done the same thing last time before deciding that he probably had. It had been instinct after all. One thing that he did know that happened was that he’d used the worldwide post to send a letter to Audrey postdated for the day he left and sure enough, that ended up getting Nathan stranded with him. 

When Nathan took off for Sarah, Duke just smirked and didn’t interfere. Audrey would have his head if he inadvertently prevented her son from being born. Instead he went to deal with who he now knew was his grandfather which ended up being a complete clusterfuck and got him killed. He just hoped that it was the way it was supposed to happen. He was killed by the right person on the right day, so that was something at least. He would know when he got back to Haven. Well, /he/ wouldn’t exactly, but Audrey would. 

When he got back, and he and Nathan quickly made their escape before the old guy spotted them again and started the whole thing over, he made his way back to the boat to call future Audrey and let her know what happened, glad when she answered. At least whatever happened hadn’t changed that. That had been his greatest fear. That he would come back and she would be gone. “It seems like everything went the right way,” he told her. 

“That’s good,” she said relieved. “I was so worried that the future knowledge would make a mess of everything.”

“Me too,” he admitted. He took a deep breath before telling her what he apparently hadn’t last time. “I ended up getting my grandfather killed.” 

“Oh no, Duke, I’m so sorry,” she said sympathetically. “Are you okay?” 

“Mostly, yeah,” he said honestly. “I mean, I never really knew him and I came to terms with his death a long time ago. Knowing that I was inadvertently responsible for it isn’t exactly /fun/ but…well we’re talking about the past here. If it hadn’t happened then things would have gone completely haywire, so…that helps.” 

“I can imagine,” she told him. She managed to coax him into talking about it a little more during their conversation and the fact that he did was enough to tell her that he was telling the truth about being mostly okay. When something was really hitting him deep he didn’t talk about it at all. Especially not that easily. Still, when he came to see her the next day, she made sure to give him the extra reassurance that he didn’t even realize that he needed.

Before Duke left after Sunday breakfast, he asked her, “Would it hurt to tell the current version of you who James’ father was?” 

Audrey considered that for a long moment. She knew that she would want to know and that she had a right to know. The question would be if she would tell Nathan and make it even harder for him to let go. It wasn’t something that Duke would have to worry about not supposed to know. He knew James’ birthday, the date they were in the past, and that Nathan and Sarah had a thing and it wasn’t like she would be able to learn that the same way she had last time. She just had to consider how she would have reacted to it in that time and she decided that it would be okay. She could be talked out of telling Nathan as long as Duke promised to tell him after she was gone. She wouldn’t want to hurt him more by her leaving, plus she would be more than a little irritated that he’d done it in the first place and not told her. She would never agree to keep it from him forever, but for a while, she would. “Yeah, you can tell her. Just try and get her not to tell Nathan. You’ll probably have to promise to tell him after she’s gone, but otherwise it should be easy enough to convince her.”

“Okay, good. I’m sure you know how much you’re stressing over that subject and now that I’ve been to the past and all…” 

“I know. And I appreciate it, you know? Everything you do, even when you hate it,” she told him, reaching up to brush his hair back from his eyes as they got to the boat to say goodbye. She was glad that his hair was long enough for the ponytail now and still loved that one lock of hair that just refused to stay up. 

“You have to know that I would do anything for you, Audrey,” he assured her, pulling her into a soft kiss. 

“I do,” she smiled as he leaned his forehead against hers. “And I love you even more for it.”

“And I love you,” he whispered, giving her one more kiss before pulling himself away and getting in the boat, heading up to start the engine while she untied the mooring lines and tossed them inside in their practiced routine. He was so glad that he would only have to leave her a couple more times before all this was over and she could come home with him.


	40. Chapter 40

Monday morning, Duke took the current timeline Audrey coffee again, hoping the conversation they needed to have wouldn’t be interrupted again. He opened with, “Nathan tell you anything about our trip to the past?” 

“Not much, no,” she shook her head. “Why? Is there something I should know?” 

Duke sighed and shook his head. He’d been hoping that some minor change they’d made would get Nathan to fess up this time around. “Yeah, actually. I was hoping not to be the one to have to tell you this, but since Nathan won’t, someone has to.”

“Tell me what?” she asked worriedly. 

“Normally, I would just consider it none of my business and stay out of it, but you’re my friend and you deserve to know…”

“Know what?” she asked impatiently. 

“It’s just…I know James’ birthday, and we were there at just the right time so…”

“Wait…you’re not saying that…are one of you James’ father?” she asked with wide eyes. 

“Not me,” Duke said quickly. “But Nathan…he and Sarah had a thing so…I mean, he really should have been the one to tell you this, but…”

“You’re right. He should have,” she said irritated. “Thank you, Duke. For letting me know. You really are a good friend.” 

“You’re welcome,” Duke said with a smile. “I don’t think you should say anything to Nathan though.”

“Why not? You don’t think that he deserves to know too?” she asked curiously. 

“Sure he does, but not now. Not with this whole Hunter thing hanging over your heads. The last thing he needs is to stress out even more,” Duke told her. 

Audrey considered that for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, you’re right. But…if I disappear…promise me you’ll tell him?”

“I promise,” he said sincerely. 

“And I don’t mean five years from now,” she joked. 

“I will tell him within a month at the longest,” he promised. 

Audrey nodded. She could live with that. No need to throw it at him the second she was gone. Let him come to terms with that before learning that they’d had a son. “And…and if I don’t find him before I go…will you…keep looking? Make sure he’s okay? Tell him…” she couldn’t get any more words out, but thankfully she didn’t need to. 

“I promise, Audrey,” he assured her. “I’ll make sure he’s okay and knows how much you love him and that you never stopped looking.” 

“Th-thank you,” she sniffled, leaning on him and taking comfort from the warm arms that wrapped around her as he leaned his head against hers. “I’m scared, Duke. I don’t want to go,” she admitted. 

“I swear to you, Audrey, if there was any way we could keep you out of this barn, I would take it,” he whispered. 

Audrey suddenly stiffened and sat up and looked at him. “Barn? What barn?” 

Duke felt his breath catch as he realized what he’d just said. He couldn’t think of a single explanation for that off the top of his head, so he decided on a different tactic. “Barn? Who said anything about a barn?” He had been whispering, after all. Maybe he could play it like she didn’t hear him correctly. 

“Don’t,” she said a little harsher than she had intended. “Don’t sit there and pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. You know something. About what’s coming. And you’re not telling me.”

Duke knew that there was no way out of this now and he just had to worry about damage control. “It’s not that simple, Audrey.”

“You told me about James’ father because I deserved to know, but you’re still hiding things. You don’t think I deserve to know that too? What’s going to happen to me? You don’t think that we might find a way to stop it if we pool our resources?” she asked angrily as she got up and started pacing. 

Duke knew that this was about the worst possible outcome. Her digging in her heels to fight even harder. “Okay, listen. I do know some things, but…it’s not my secret to tell. Give me five minutes to step outside and make a phone call and then we can continue this conversation okay?” 

She narrowed her eyes at him before giving a curt nod. “Fine. But I swear to god Duke Crocker, if you take off on me…” 

“I won’t,” he promised, and slipped out to the balcony to make his call, knowing that she would be just waking up about now. “I’m sorry sweetheart, I screwed up,” he said as soon as she answered the phone, not noticing the current Audrey standing inside the door listening to every word. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” the future Audrey assured him. “Whatever it is we can fix it. What happened?” 

“We were talking and she was upset and crying and I was trying to make her feel better and I mentioned the barn and not being able to prevent her from having to go in and…”

“Crap,” future Audrey sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

“I’m sorry,” Duke said apologetically. “I’m supposed to be so good at the whole cloak and dagger thing and I let you down…”

“No, Duke, it’s okay,” she cut him off. “Really. I mean, knowing before finding out about the hunter wouldn’t have been an option, but now…it’s not so bad. We can manage it now. I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. Master you may be, but dealing with two versions of me and trying to remember who knows what is a tall order for /anyone/.”

“Maybe, but still…what are we going to do?”

“What happened after the slip?” she asked, trying to get a handle on how best to handle it. She knew that he was deferring this choice to her since it was her secret that would be coming out. 

“I tried to play it off, but she called me on it and got pissed. Started talking about me hiding things she deserved to know and maybe if we all pooled our resources we could stop it. I got her calmed down enough to let me step outside and call you,” he explained. 

“And I would bet everything I have that she’s eavesdropping right now if you’re anywhere near close enough,” she pointed out almost amused, making Duke turn and look suspiciously at the closed door. “We’re going to have to tell me everything. Do you want me there to help? I’m sure the other me can be convinced to wait long enough for you to come pick me up if you promise full disclosure afterwards.”

“Why don’t I just bring her to you?” Duke suggested. “That would be easier and a lot safer. We shouldn’t be taking too many dangerous risks on the home stretch.”

“You’re comfortable bringing that version of me here?” she asked surprised. 

“It’s not like we’re going to be leaving her there unattended to snoop around and even if she did, what’s she gonna do? Arrest me?” he scoffed. He wasn’t banking on her holding to her promise from before not to arrest him. Not while she was pissed at him. But given that she would be gone in less than two weeks it would be rather pointless for her to arrest him when she wouldn’t be able to follow through on it. 

“Okay. I’ll be waiting then,” she assured him. 

Duke turned and went back inside, finding the current timeline Audrey sitting just a little too casually on the couch sipping her coffee and knew that her future self had been right. She had been eavesdropping. “Okay, so we’ll tell you everything,” he promised. “But you’ll need to come with me.”

“You expect me to just up and leave with you? After finding out you’ve been lying to me for god only knows how long?” she asked incredulously. 

He went over and sat next to her on the couch, taking her hands in his as he said gently, “Listen, I know your trust in me has just taken a major hit, but please tell me that you at least know that I would never hurt you. Or set you up to be hurt. Tell me I haven’t fallen /that/ far in your eyes?” 

“I…um…” she wanted to believe that. She /did/ believe that, really, but believing it and just accepting it enough for this were two different things. “I…I need to text Nathan. Let him know I won’t be in today. I’ll just tell him you have a lead on the hunter thing and we’re going to check it out.” It was a test. If he was find with Nathan knowing that she was with him in case anything happened, then she would go out on this limb. 

“Make it I /might/ have a lead?” he asked hopefully, knowing that he didn’t have a leg to stand on in her estimation, but hoping that she would indulge him that far. Might was a lot less definite and could be walked back easier later. 

She nodded. “Okay, I can do that.” The important part was still the same after all. “Will I still have cell service?” 

“We’ll be out of range for less than an hour each way, but once we’re there, yes. You will have service,” he assured her. 

“Okay,” she nodded. “And I swear, Duke, if you don’t tell me /everything/…” 

“I will. You have my word,” he vowed. 

“Not that it means that much anymore,” she muttered as she headed for the door, not missing his wince at those words and almost feeling bad for saying it.


	41. Chapter 41

The current timeline Audrey was only a little surprised when Duke led her to the boat instead of his truck and now she got what he meant about being out of cell range during the trip. She still had to ask, “We can’t drive?” 

“There’s no road access where we’re going,” he told her as she followed him up to the helm. “Hey, you wanted to know where I go every weekend. Now you get to see.”

That made her a lot more comfortable with this at least. Even if she didn’t get any other questions answered she would at least get that one. That and it meant that he knew whoever they were going to see well enough to /know/ that they wouldn’t hurt her rather than just guessing and trusting himself to protect her if it came to it. “Where is it? Who’s there?” she asked as they pulled away from the dock. 

“A secret safe house. And you’ll see,” he told her as much as he could without prompting questions that would tell the whole story on the trip. He wanted to leave the bulk of it to her future self, knowing that she wouldn’t trust anything he had to say right now. He deflected about a dozen more questions during the trip that felt so much longer than usual and smiled when he saw a hooded figure on the dock waiting. It made sense that she would hide her identity until the boat was settled and they could handle the shock of it all. 

Audrey watched as the hooded person grabbed the ropes as soon as the boat got close and started tying them off and as curious as she was about who it was and what answers they might have, she was nervous enough about the situation that she waited for Duke to get everything shut down and go first. She was already walking back towards the secluded cabin by the time Duke got off the boat and held out a hand to help her out. Duke wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder as he led her in that direction and her nerves ramped up a few dozen notches. 

The future Audrey sat down in the lounge chair for this conversation leaving the porch swing for Duke and her past self, knowing that she would need the comfort. When she saw herself open her mouth to speak, she lifted her hands and pulled back her hood, pulling a gasp instead of words. “I know that this is going to be difficult for you to believe, but I’m you from the future.” 

“The…future…” the current timeline Audrey said suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. “Prove it.”

The future Audrey fully expected that and had an answer all ready. “When we were caught in the groundhog day and saw Duke die, that was the moment we realized how much we loved him. When we rushed downstairs the next morning, it was all we could do not to kiss him despite Chris standing right there.”

“That’s…I don’t…” Audrey stammered, trying to wrap her head around that. There was no other way she could have known that. Even if an imposter had found out about the groundhog day, she never admitted either of those things. Not even to a journal or diary. “How is this…I mean…Does this mean that we find a way to stop me from disappearing?” she finally settled on a question. 

The future Audrey sighed. “Yes and no,” she shrugged. “See, the thing is…you /can/ stay. It has to be your choice to leave. But if you stay, it would sacrifice all of Haven. Hundreds and thousands of innocent lives will be lost and destroyed.”

“You chose to stay,” Audrey guessed, knowing that being responsible for that would definitely make her desperate enough to travel through time to prevent it. 

“No, I chose to go. Just like I know you will. But in my timeline…Nathan objected. He destroyed the barn to keep us here. And the entire town suffered for it…and our son died for it,” she added the last part. 

Audrey sucked in a sharp breath and closed her eyes at the wash of pain those words brought before she got herself under control. Largely thanks to Duke’s arm wrapping around her shoulders comfortingly. “Maybe you should start from the beginning and tell me the whole story.”

“I’ll start from when we found out that we would have to go and why. Howard was waiting for us when we got there and he explained the whole thing. The barn is some sort of otherworldly transport device. It’s linked to us and the troubles. When we go in, and it leaves, the troubles leave too, but it can only work for so long without it and us needing to recharge. It starts running out of steam and then the troubles come back and we get sent here to help manage them until we’re recharged enough to take them away again.” 

“Okay, but why all the new personalities and secrets? Wouldn’t I be more likely to go if I could know all this in advance? I could prepare myself and…and not get so close to people and…”

“And that’s the exact reason right there. Because the barn is powered by love. Because if we knew that we would only be here for a little while, we wouldn’t let ourselves love. We wouldn’t find home here. Family. Friends. Happiness. That’s what the barn depends on to survive,” she explained to herself. “We get a fresh start every time. New life, new memories, new love,” she looked at Duke with a soft smile. 

The current timeline Audrey caught that look and started to form a suspicion, but she needed the rest of the story before getting into all that so she got her mind back on track. “So we found out we had to leave to save the entire town from the troubles…” 

“And the meteor storm,” her future self added. “The Hunter meteor storm, if the barn doesn’t leave with us, will rain down onto the town instead of overhead. The first few meteors had already hit before I went in last time and when the barn was destroyed, they didn’t stop. They caused so much damage…”

“Did Nathan know? When he destroyed the barn? Did he know what would happen?” Audrey asked herself. 

“He did,” she nodded. “We begged him not to. To just let us go. Even took his gun and gave it to Duke to force him not to interfere. I explained it all. Howard explained it all. Even Duke did. He pointed out that we could never live with what our life would cost. We could never accept surviving at the price of so many.”

“But he did it anyway,” she said horrified. “And Duke…”

“Couldn’t stop him. He tried. They fought. Nathan got the gun away from him. It was a huge mess, but…there’s more,” she told her wanting to get the worst part out of the way. “James was in the barn. He really had died back in eighty three. Lucy took him to the barn to try and bring him back. The only way was to tie his life to the barn. He couldn’t survive outside of it for more than a few hours.”

“Did Nathan know that too? And…did he know that James was his son too?” 

“He did. On both counts. He knew that he was James’ father long before we did. We didn’t find out until he tried to interfere with the barn the first time and we were told how and why it worked. He knew and never told us.”

“And then he killed our son…to save me…and sacrificed all of Haven to do it,” the current Audrey said in shock and disgust. “That’s what you came back to prevent.”

“It is,” she nodded, looking to Duke to explain the plan since he would be the one overseeing the implementation of it. 

“The night the meteor storm is supposed to start, I’m going to get close enough to sedate him. Then, there is a group called the guard, run by Vince, and they’ll be taking over from there, getting him locked down at one of their safehouses until it’s all over. Then we let him go and we’re all good,” Duke explained. 

“Sounds good except /I’ll/ be the one to sedate him,” she said firmly. “I’ll be able to get closer than you.”

“Okay, but I’ll still be there to serve as a distraction then,” Duke agreed, knowing that he would be more likely to trust Audrey at his back than him and since he wouldn’t feel the needle it should go off without a hitch. 

“Okay so, we prevent him from destroying the barn by keeping him away, but…what happened last time when the barn was destroyed? How bad did it get?” Audrey asked herself.

“Well I was inside the barn when it happened. I had just run in the door. When Duke noticed that the barn was imploding, he jumped inside to get me out. Time works differently in there,” she started. 

“It felt like seconds to me before I fell through the cracks and landed in Boston six months later,” Duke explained. 

“And I was already in the process of getting a new identity as it went down, but it didn’t get a chance to finish before Duke and Nathan managed to track down a portal to get me out just as the barn died for good. Hence the hair. This is Lexi’s hair.”

“I had wondered,” current Audrey chuckled. 

“So I make it out, the Audrey personality jumps back to the front of my mind, and I see that we’re surrounded by guns. When the troubles didn’t go away thanks to Nathan, the guard lost it.”

“What exactly is the guard?” she asked confused.


	42. Chapter 42

“It’s a sort of militia group. They’re the ones that run the relocation and safe houses all over the country for troubled people. They’re the protectors of the troubled and keep an eye on the barn situation. If I hadn’t gotten Vince to assure them that you would go without prompting, you would have had a few encounters with them by now.” 

“And Vince runs a militia?” she asked in shock. 

“Well…yes and no. They’re more about protecting people for the most part, but they do fight when they need to. After the troubles didn’t go away and there was no end in sight and the whole town fell apart…that’s when they became more like a militia and Vince was limited in the control he had over them. You know how people are when they’re scared and upset.” 

“Yeah. I do,” she sighed. Mob mentality and all. “But you were saying…” 

“So, I get out and the guard has us surrounded and it doesn’t take me long to learn what all happened while I was gone. The guard had gone after Nathan hard after what he did and he had gone on the run, living off the grid so they didn’t kill him. It wasn’t until Duke got back and they realized that there was hope for me that they laid off, very reluctantly and with massive grudges. They hoped that if they could get me back that I would have another way to end them, but I didn’t and things were tense. With Nathan gone, the guard inserted their own chief of police and basically took over the town. Between the meteors and trouble disasters on an almost daily basis, half the town was either rubble or boarded up, the guard was in the streets with guns trying to keep things under control, but you know how the troubles work. They’re triggered by fear, anger, grief…”

“All things that would be running rampant,” Audrey winced. 

“Duke, Nathan, and I did the best we could to help, but we were run ragged and had no idea of any kind of long term solution. When we found out that destroying the barn also released something that they history called a ‘great evil’ that was going around making things even worse, I knew there was no way to survive there so I went looking for Stuart Mosely who, thankfully, hadn’t died in any of the disasters though he was even more of a mess than usual.” 

“And he sent you back here,” she nodded. “To when? How long have you been here?” 

“A little over a year. I got here at the beginning of October last year. I made contact with Duke first, gave him a note from his future self and made my way here to his safehouse to wait for him. He’s been making weekly runs to keep me stocked on food and supplies since I obviously can’t be seen. He also helped me make contact with the chief who was my eyes and ears inside the PD. We managed to keep him alive a few more months than last time, but once he was gone I moved to the backup plan of Vince. For obvious reasons, Nathan can never know anything about this.”

“No, I get it,” she nodded seriously. “I won’t say a word. To him or anyone else.” She hesitated a moment before asking the big question she needed an answer to. “But why not tell me? You didn’t think I deserved to know?” Vince and Dave playing these games she could live with and she realized now that Duke was only following her lead, but her future self keeping these kinds of secrets hit her hard. 

“You know…I remember being so pissed at Vince and Dave for their games, but I never really understood it until I was put in that position myself. Understand that telling you before you found out about the hunter would have been impossible. Not if you were going to find all the things you needed here to recharge the barn. Since then…it’s a delicate line to walk. When to tell you what without completely derailing everything, so I went to my normal fallback since I’ve been here. When in doubt I follow the previous timeline as closely as possible,” she tried to explain. “I told Duke what we learned and when so he wouldn’t let too much slip, but don’t take it out on him. He hated keeping it from you. We just couldn’t risk the entire town if telling you made things go badly.” 

The current Audrey sighed heavily and tried putting herself in her future self’s shoes. Knowing how much was riding on every decision she made and one mistake could destroy all of Haven and cost hundreds or thousands of lives. “I guess I get that,” she admitted. “I don’t like it, but I get it. You’re not worried about telling me now then?” 

“There’s only a little over a week and a half left. We just have to hope we can hold it together that long,” Audrey told herself. 

“I’ll do my part. Don’t worry,” Audrey assured her future self. Knowing the cost…she couldn’t do anything differently. 

“I’m not worried about you intentionally messing it up,” she told her. “I know me better than that. But I also know that I’m not the best at keeping secrets and Nathan is already suspicious about what kind of secrets Duke is hiding. It won’t take much for him to realize that you’re in on them too. I’m not nearly as good at hiding things as Duke is and if I slip up, even a little…”

“Okay, I see your point,” the current Audrey winced. “It won’t be long though. And I’m sure I can handle it for this last little bit of time.” 

“If you need any help or advice or even an alibi or something, you know where to find me,” Duke assured her. 

“And I’ll get you my number too,” the future Audrey promised. 

“Are you two together?” she couldn’t hold the question back anymore now that the big stuff was out of the way. 

Duke chuckled and went to get up. “On that note, I’m gonna go start lunch and let you two gossip about me all you want,” he said amusedly, leaning down for a lingering kiss from the future Audrey. 

“I guess that answers that question,” the current Audrey said both nervous and amused. “I…um…You need to know that…when we were in Colorado, nothing happened. I mean, I kissed him, but I didn’t know…and that was all…”

The future Audrey shook her head amusedly as she moved over to the swing and told her, “It’s fine. You’re still me either way and I’m good with anything that happens between the two of you.”

“Does he know that?” she had to ask. 

“He does,” Audrey told her with a nod. “And he told me about what happened and that it just didn’t feel the same with you. You don’t have the same history with him and it was just ‘off’, you know?” 

“That makes sense,” she sighed sadly. 

“Now that you know everything that might change things, but I really can’t speak for him on that subject. That’s something you’ll have to talk about with him, but he does love both versions of us,” she assured her past self. 

“This is where he comes when he’s ‘getting his head straight’ as he puts it when something knocks him for a loop?” she guessed. “Like when Evi was killed and…and when he had to kill…” she trailed off, her own guilt over the situation not letting her get the words out. 

“Yeah, it is. There have been a couple other times too when things get to be too much for him.”

“I have to know…after I pushed him into killing that man…”

The future Audrey knew that she needed to hear this. That she would have wanted to know, and that Duke wouldn’t mind her knowing, especially since she would be gone soon. “First, you should know that he already knew it would happen. He knew what he would have to do and why. Not that it made him any less upset about the /way/ it happened.”

“I wish so much that I had handled that whole situation better.”

“I know,” the future Audrey said sincerely. 

“Yeah, I guess if anyone would know just how awful I feel it would be you,” she huffed a self-depricating laugh. 

“And I made sure that he knows too, if it helps.” 

“How was he?” the current Audrey got to the point. 

“Not good,” future Audrey said sadly. “When I think about how it must have been last time around when he didn’t have anyone to lean on…” Tears filled her eyes at the very thought of it. “He held it together long enough to get here, but the second the boat was shut down and he came down the ladder he just…collapsed. For hours he just sobbed in my arms shaking like a leaf before he finally exhausted himself to the point of falling asleep. We didn’t even make it off the deck of the boat, so I just grabbed the blanket and we slept there on the futon. I’m not sure how long. When I woke up the next morning, we were in bed so he must have woken up at some point and moved us.” 

The current Audrey wiped a few tears from her cheeks at the thought of what he went through. “I’m so glad that he had you this time,” she whispered. The idea of him going through that all alone was even worse. 

“Me too,” Audrey told her past self, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders.


	43. Chapter 43

“So how did it happen? You two getting together?” she asked curiously. 

“This time or last time?” she asked with a smile, getting on board with the happier subject. 

“Both.”

“Well last time, everything happened like it has so far, even Colorado, though the reasons were different. Last time around he was hesitant because he was still hurting over being stood up for our date last year and I picked up on his hesitation and made my own assumption as to why just like you did. Nothing else happened until I was saying my goodbyes before the barn. He decided he needed me to know how he felt before I left and told me that he loved me. Obviously, I returned it and we had a very sweet kiss before I left. When I got back, we just picked up where we left off, but it was only a few weeks before I came back here.”

“And how did you get together here?” she asked eagerly. 

The future Audrey grinned amusedly at the memory and told her, “Well his future self had talked me into messing with his head a little bit, so I just walked in, kissed the daylights out of him, handed him the letter, and walked out.” The current Audrey couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image and imagining the look on his face. “I came straight here, and it wasn’t long before he showed up, completely discombobulated. He let me read the letter and his future self definitely hadn’t held back any punches, talking about how much he’d loved me and how he knew that his past self felt the same way despite the fact that he hadn’t realized it yet.”

“And he just accepted that? Loved you just because his future self told him to?” 

“No, not exactly,” she shook her head. “See, it was only about a month after you’d stood him up and he definitely felt something for you, but it wasn’t quite that far yet, and then another version of you showed up, completely accepting and loving him, and it threw him for a loop, but he decided to give it a shot. It took a while before he completely relaxed into things and it wasn’t until my birthday almost two months later before he told me he loved me,” she said as she unconsciously fingered the necklace he’d given her. 

“Oh that’s gorgeous,” the current Audrey noticed it. “It’s our birthstone,” she looked closely at the dolphin. 

“Yeah, this was what he got me. He gave it to me after we spent the day visiting a nearby cove where there was a pod of dolphins living and we spent the day watching them and even got to feed and play with them for a little while. Since then, dolphins are kind of our thing,” she smiled brightly. 

“That sounds amazing,” the current Audrey said wistfully. 

“It really was,” she said with a happy sigh, knowing that her past self wouldn’t be jealous really. More like happy that some part of her got to experience what she never could. It wasn’t like missing memories was anything new to her after all. “I have some pictures of the dolphins inside if you want to see. Duke even snuck a picture of me feeding one.” 

“Yeah, please,” she said excitedly and they got up to head inside. 

“Lunch is almost ready,” Duke told them as they came in and they thanked him in unison before giggling and then something else caught the current Audrey’s eye. 

She made her way over to the mantle sucking in a sharp breath at the sight of Duke in a nice suit and her in a gorgeous gown as they danced on the deck of the boat. The future Audrey caught her detour right away and followed. “That was our anniversary. He did up the boat with fairy lights and cooked a big fancy dinner with expensive wine and we danced the night away,” she explained. 

“We look so happy,” she said in awe, unable to think of a time that she’d ever been that happy in her life. 

“We were. We /are/,” Audrey told her past self. “I have more pictures of that night too. He had the camera rigged on a remote so there are a lot of them.” 

“After lunch, sweetheart,” Duke chuckled, pressing a kiss to both of their cheeks as he wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders leading them to the kitchen. “Let’s eat before it gets cold.” 

As they sat down to eat the current Audrey asked her future self worriedly, “You don’t have to go into the barn with me, do you?” 

“No. In fact, I /can’t/ go. The barn is attuned to who you are when you come out and the same version has to be the one to go in. I’m still part Lexi so my going would interfere in the whole process,” she explained. 

The current Audrey gave a relieved sigh. “Good. That’s good. It’s nice to know that some version of me will live on you know? Have a chance to have a life and be happy and just…It’s nice to know that I won’t just be erased.” 

“Even if she wasn’t here, you wouldn’t just be erased,” Duke told her softly. “You would still have people here who remember you and love you. That could never be erased.” 

Both Audreys smiled lovingly at his words and the future one said, “But I know what you mean. That’s why I thought you might want to see the pictures.” Duke had wondered at that. Why it seemed almost like she was rubbing it in to her past self, but he got it now. It wasn’t about rubbing it in. It was about giving her hope.

“So what’s going to happen once I’m gone?” she asked curiously. “You’ll just jump in like nothing happened? Other than a change of hair,” she chuckled. 

“Basically, yeah. I’ll be dying my hair back to blonde at first and then just let it grow out naturally so people think I’ve been dying it all along. Not that I don’t like being blonde, it would just be too much work to keep it dyed forever, you know?” 

“Yeah, I can definitely understand that,” the current Audrey nodded. She’d died her hair once in college and kept it that way for a whole year and it was a royal pain keeping up with it. “Do you plan on telling anyone about the switch?” 

“Well the guard will have to know,” future Audrey pointed out. “I’m not sure yet what story Vince is going to tell them, but he’ll let me know. We won’t be able to hide it from Nathan, so he’ll know. Not only would he notice the differences in our demeanor, but he’ll need an explanation for why he was knocked out and locked up. Other than that, no. Everyone else will just think we took a little vacation.”

“Vacation?” she asked curiously. 

Duke was the one to answer that question. “Vince suggested that we give it at least a few days for word to spread with the guard and for them to come to terms with the fact that the troubles are actually gone before we let you be seen so no one freaks out too badly and risks an incident.” 

“Right. That makes sense,” she nodded. “In that case I’ll go ahead and put in the paperwork for a week’s vacation?” 

“What are you going to tell Nathan?” her future self asked pointedly, reminding her that he had to stay in the dark. 

She thought for a second before suggesting, “That if I manage to beat the hunter thing, I want to take some time to celebrate that fact and live a little and if I don’t it won’t really matter anyway?” 

The other two considered that for a minute, trying to poke holes before they realized it was a decent story and agreeing. “That will definitely make things easier,” future Audrey said. 

“Just remember that Nathan will think you’re gone until you get back to town,” Duke reminded her. They’d decided that Duke telling Nathan about the time-travel and other version of Audrey that would be taking her place would be like throwing Duke to the wolves for keeping it such a big secret. Yeah drugging him and locking him up so Audrey could be taken by the barn would be pretty bad, but not /that/ bad. The full story would wait for Audrey and they took a minute to explain that to the confused current version who completely agreed once they laid it all out like that. 

After lunch Audrey gave her past self a tour of the house and showed her the handful of pictures that were displayed, including one of her feeding the dolphins before the three of them sat down and looked at all the pictures that she kept in the computer and sharing the stories behind some of them. Duke cooked a simple dinner before he went to take the current Audrey home, promising to see the future one at their normal time that weekend troubles permitting.


	44. Chapter 44

As Duke took the current timeline Audrey back to Haven, she hesitated for a few minutes before heading up to the helm to talk to Duke while he was driving. “I was thinking…” she started, biting her lip nervously. 

“Bout what?” Duke asked curiously, keeping one eye on the navigation and one hand on the wheel as he turned to face her. 

“Well…I get why you’re not really…comfortable with the idea of us and all, but…it doesn’t really have to be all or nothing, you know? I mean, now that I know everything…I’m good with as much or as little as you’re comfortable with,” she babbled. 

Duke tilted his head curiously at her as he picked apart the meaning behind her words and considered it. He would be lying if he said that he didn’t want /something/, and her knowing everything now made it easier. It meant that he wouldn’t have to try and explain why he was holding back or worry about slipping up. She wouldn’t be here much longer so it wasn’t like he’d have to worry about trying to make anything work long term and if this was really something she wanted, how could he deny making her last little bit of time special. He didn’t think he could give her it /all/, but some he could do. When he realized that she was shifting nervously, waiting for him to respond, he just gave her a soft smile and reached a hand to her cheek. 

Audrey’s eyes fluttered closed as she leaned into his touch, soaking up everything she could get and then his lips were on hers. Slow and experimental and sweet and she kissed him back the same way. It only lasted a few seconds, but it seemed to have sucked all the breath out of her and when he pulled back he didn’t go far, resting his forehead against hers. “I do love you, you know,” he whispered. 

“I love you too,” she breathed out, barely audible. 

“I’m not sure how much I can give you, but I’ll give you what I can,” he promised. 

“That’s all I can ask,” she agreed, taking a chance and kissing him again softly and only lingering for a moment. When his thumb caressed her cheek before his arm slid around her waist, pulling her to his side, she rested her head on his shoulder contentedly and the rest of the ride passed like that. Just them getting more comfortable with each other. 

Once the got back Duke told her, “I’m sure you have a lot to process right now, so we should probably call it a night.” He had a lot of thinking of his own to do too. 

“Yeah, that’s an understatement,” she chuckled. “Thank you, Duke. For everything you’re doing for both versions of me.” 

“I’ll always do anything you need me to do, Audrey,” he whispered as his hand caressed her cheek before leaning down for a gentle kiss.

She sank into the kiss gratefully, glad that she could have at least this much and when he pulled back, she said a quiet, “Goodnight.” 

“Goodnight, Audrey,” he whispered, watching her walk away. 

When she got up to her apartment, she spend a few minutes reveling in the new facet of her and Duke’s relationship before pulling out her phone. She knew that Nathan would be chomping at the bit to hear how Duke’s lead panned out and she had to disappoint him. Now she got why Duke asked her to change her message to /might/ have a lead. She ignored Nathan’s grumbling about wasting a whole day chasing shadows before she hung up and started getting ready for bed. A little earlier than usual, but she knew that it would take her a while to fall asleep tonight. She just had so much on her mind. 

She wasn’t really scared about going into the barn. Not /too/ scared at least. Now that she understood the reason and what would happen to her and that her son was there, it wasn’t so bad, and at least some part of her would live on. Happy. With Duke. Which was the other thing on her mind. Sure she loved Nathan…at least she had before learning how far he would go to keep her against her will. Now she would have a hard time pretending that nothing changed there. Duke though…she loved him more than she ever thought was possible. It was a burning, all-consuming kind of love that she knew that she would never get enough of even if she had a thousand years. 

If it hadn’t been for the fact that they never really managed to get their shit together before the barn in the last timeline, she might be a little bitter about the other version of her getting him, but knowing that she wouldn’t have had him anyway helped and she was honestly glad that some part of her could know the happiness that she never would. That Duke wouldn’t have to deal with her loss. She would gladly accept anything that he was comfortable giving and cherish every second of it. If not for her future self, she wouldn’t have even had that much, after all. When she did finally drift off to sleep it was to thoughts of Duke and fantasies of the happy life they would have together once she was gone. 

The next morning, Duke knocked on Audrey’s door with coffee, and she let him in with a bright smile. Duke had come to a decision about how he was going to do this. The cuddling and kissing he was good with and maybe the night before she left, he could give her everything, but he wasn’t entirely sure he would be able to. That part he would just play by ear. But for now, he sat down on the couch and held out an arm in invitation and she sighed happily as she settled into his arms and they sipped their coffee. 

They basked in the moment in silence for a little while before Audrey knew that she couldn’t steal time like this forever and she had to get her head in the game. “So I’m guessing the future me told you what’s coming up for the next week and half and what we can expect troublewise?” 

“Sort of,” Duke shrugged. “There’s one that will definitely be happening, but another one that we’re not sure. The guard was heavily involved last time so we don’t know how it’s going to go with Vince keeping a closer eye on them. Like, if the girl was being moved for a legitimate reason when everything happened that part will still happen, but if the guard doesn’t kidnap her father and try to kidnap her, and…it’s just hard to tell. I know how it happened last time, but it doesn’t mean it’ll be the same.”

“And the one that we know will happen?” she asked. 

“That one will be two days before you go. A high school reunion. I’m hoping to avoid being turned back into a teenager this time, but I’m not holding my breath,” Duke chuckled. 

“Okay, so if that’ll be the last one, I’ll wait on getting details on that. The little girl is the next one, I’m guessing?” she asked curiously. 

“Yeah…oh and there’s one more she mentioned, but didn’t tell me much about since there’s not much I can do with it. The whole town will be in a coma except for you and the guy causing it. When you get a chance you should call her and get the details on that, or I can and pass them along.”

“I think it would be safer if you did. The last thing we need is for me to be caught on the phone getting details about a case we haven’t had yet,” Audrey told him. That and she appreciated any excuse to spend time with him. 

“Okay, I’ll do that then. Did you want to know how the next case happened last time around?” Duke asked her. 

“Yes, please. Even if it doesn’t happen the same way, anything could be helpful,” she told him as she finished her coffee and set the cup down, snuggling deeper into his arms. 

Duke smiled and kissed her head before going into the whole story, including how he’d been played by the mind-controlling kid. He was just finishing the story when there was a knock at the door. Duke stole a quick kiss before moving away from her and she called for Nathan to come in. 

Audrey got her answer about whether or not they were telling people about their ‘not quite a relationship’, and couldn’t help the disappointment she felt, but she supposed it was better this way. She was out the door with Nathan five minutes later and Duke was headed back to his boat. As soon as Duke was out of earshot, Nathan couldn’t help but ask, “What’s with you and Duke?”

“What do you mean?” Audrey asked, already trying to formulate a story in her mind. 

“Are you sleeping together? Because I really don’t think that’s the best idea,” Nathan said hesitantly. 

“Okay, first, no. We aren’t sleeping together. He’s just being a good friend by trying to keep my spirits up and help me figure out this hunter thing. Second, even if we were, you don’t get to tell me who I can and can’t see,” she tried to keep as much of the irritation as she could out of her voice, reminding herself that he hadn’t actually done anything wrong yet. Other than trying to tell her not to get involved with Duke, of course.

“No, I get that. I wasn’t trying to run your life or anything. It’s just…Duke keeps a lot of secrets and that makes me nervous. Especially since he shared at least some of them with my father and now with Vince, but no one is talking and he’s too damn good at hiding things.”

“Did you ever think that maybe he as a good reason to keep those secrets?” Audrey asked pointedly. 

“You can’t seriously be suggesting that I /trust/ him?” Nathan asked incredulously. 

“Perish the thought,” Audrey rolled her eyes. “No, I’m suggesting that you trust your father. And trust Vince. If they thought it was dangerous and you needed to know, they would tell you.” 

“Vince keeps too many secrets of his own,” Nathan said with a huff. “But you’re right. I should trust my dad at least. If he was still here to keep an eye on things I would feel a lot better about it though. I’m surprised to hear you talking about trusting Vince after everything that he and Dave kept from you.”

“I know,” Audrey said, thinking fast. This was why she didn’t do secrets usually. “But the more I think about it, the more I see where they were coming from. I mean, I don’t /like/ it obviously. But they had their reasons.” At least that was enough for Nathan to drop it. Or the fact that they had gotten to the station had him dropping it. Either way the subject was over and Audrey breathed an internal sigh of relief.


	45. Chapter 45

Vince called the future Audrey when the guard lost the little troubled girl they were moving and Audrey sighed and thanked him for the info. When he asked where they could find her, Audrey considered the matter for a minute before telling him, “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“Whyever not?” Vince asked, not bothering to argue how dangerous her trouble could be. He knew that Audrey knew that. 

“Because if her father isn’t going back for her that means that someone in the guard has kidnapped him and until you know who, I don’t think the guard should be involved,” she told him. 

“Yes, I do see your point. I have been keeping a close eye on Jordan McKee, though and she hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary.”

“She might be working through other people. She did have a faction loyal to her. If she noticed you watching her, she might have just passed on orders to them,” Audrey told him. 

“Then it seems that I have work to do. I can trust you to handle the girl and make sure that she doesn’t come to any harm?” 

“She’ll be fine,” Audrey assured him before hanging up to call Duke. “It looks like someone in the guard is playing games again,” she told him. 

Duke sighed. “I take it I’m up?” He knew that someone had to watch the girl while Audrey and Nathan solved the case and he had been the only one she liked. Being mind-controlled by a kid wouldn’t exactly be fun, but at least she wouldn’t hurt him like she might anyone else that she didn’t like. 

“If you don’t mind,” Audrey said sweetly. 

“The things I do for you, woman,” Duke muttered, only mildly irritated.

“But you know I love you for it,” she replied amusedly. 

“And you know I only do it because I love you too,” Duke chuckled. “I’ll let you know how it goes.” 

When Duke got to the station, he found Ginger sitting in Audrey’s office and sat down and started joking with her, pretending to be her lawyer and talking about her rights and it didn’t take long for her to lose the icy demeanor and start giggling at him. Audrey smiled brightly at the sight, which wasn’t missed by Claire. He really was great with her. She almost wondered if he was playing off a script from last time before putting that thought out of her head. Even if her past self could remember word for word and tell him, he had an ease to his interactions that would have been missing if it had been an act. She could see a little bit of tension there, but that was probably just because he knew that he would be mind-controlled. When Audrey volunteered Duke for babysitting as she headed out to work the case, Duke got up and grabbed her arm to slow her down, whispering in her ear, “Jordan is working through others this time. It might not be the same.” She gave an almost imperceptible nod as she kept walking and Duke turned his attention back to the kid. 

When Ginger told him he looked like a pirate he chuckled and started telling pirate jokes. It definitely wasn’t the first time he’d heard that and he took it as a compliment. When he mentioned that he lived on a boat, she was more than a little excited about that and he jokingly referred to it as his pirate ship. Somehow the conversation turned to him living alone and she started asking about a wife and kids. He couldn’t exactly tell her that he wouldn’t be alone for much longer, not with the way kids talk and the questions it would raise, but he did tell her about his daughter even though he didn’t actually know her. He got the hint that it was something that was important to her when she said that she wasn’t meant to have a family either. He was about to get deeper into that subject when she mentioned being hungry, and then he felt the mind control settle over him and he couldn’t fight it so they went out for ice cream. 

He knew that she was going to end up kidnapped, and tried to pay more attention to stop it, but the mind control was too strong. Audrey played her role well and got onto him about taking her out of the station, but he could see the amusement in her eyes, mixed in with her worry about the girl that he shared. He knew that it turned out okay last time, but that didn’t mean that it would this time now that different people were involved. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found her and then there was the mind control again forcing him to lie to Audrey of all people and then he ended up dressing up and playing pirate at the Gull. He had to admit it was kinda fun. If he ignored the crippling anxiety from the aware part of his mind that had no control over what he did. Being controlled by /anything/ was pretty much his greatest fear. He knew that it wasn’t the kid’s fault though and he wouldn’t take it out on her even when he was back to himself. 

When Audrey and Nathan came by to check on them, he ended up falling off the railing of Audrey’s apartment balcony. He’d been warned about that and it wasn’t like he hadn’t had worse. The worry over him being seriously hurt was the only thing that had snapped the kid out of it, so it was rather necessary even if he /could/ have stopped it. Ironically, it had been Audrey in charge of her during the next kidnapping attempt while Duke was trying to recover from the fall. He was still a little woozy as he got up to help handle it and the guard member was locked down just as Nathan got back from visiting Ginger’s uncle and got the whole story. Duke told Audrey how she thought her father just abandoned her while Nathan tried to get the information from the guard member on where her father was. 

“I can make him tell us,” Ginger jumped in. “People do what I say right? I ask him to tell me, he’ll /have/ to say.”

“No. It’s too risky,” Audrey shook her head. 

Duke realized that he had missed that part of the story when he’d told her. The fact that it was Ginger who had gotten Jordan to talk. It should work the same way with this guy too. “The kid just wants to find her dad,” he told her. 

“She’s a little girl, alright? I don’t want her getting mixed up in all this. It’s dangerous,” Audrey told him, trying to read from his expression if this was something she /needed/ to let happen. 

“Yeah, but you know what’s more dangerous? Thinking that her father abandoned her,” Duke said seriously. That was something that he could definitely relate to, after all, not that this version of Audrey knew that. “Trust me,” he said earnestly and he could see Audrey’s acceptance even as he said, “Just let me talk to her.”

“Okay, but be careful,” she told him, worried about him ending up under her spell again. 

Duke nodded and turned to Ginger, crouching down in front of her to put himself more on her level. “Okay, hey,” he said gently as he reached out and took her hand. “We’re friends right? Real friends. Not just cause you were making me.”

Ginger couldn’t help the smile that twitched on her face as she said, “yeah.” 

“I’m gonna let you do this…but if it’s not going right you have to stop,” he told her. “And you have to promise me that you will listen to me.”

“I promise,” she said honestly. 

“Okay,” Duke said trustingly, giving her hand a squeeze before getting up and moving behind her as she walked over to the table, offering silent support. Once she got the answer to where her father was and why the guard wanted Ginger, Duke said, “Nathan,” warningly. He wasn’t letting her get any more involved than this. Nathan got the hint and just asked Ginger to make him answer all Nathan’s questions now and then sent her upstairs for Nathan to get more of the story. Duke knew that there would be no stopping him either way, now that he knew that the guard knew something so there was no point fighting it, but he needed to at least be close enough for damage control and hopefully to stop /too/ much from being spilled. 

Nathan ended up getting most of the story about the barn and why she had to go and when he asked why they wouldn’t tell him that, he was told, “Because we knew that you would try and stop it from happening.” 

“You’re right,” Nathan said seriously, turning to look at Audrey and Duke. 

Duke could see the worried look on Audrey’s face and assured her, “It’s not gonna happen.” He knew that Nathan would take the opposite meaning on that, but Audrey would know what he meant. Thankfully, Nathan realized that it was a problem for later and in the meantime, they had to get Ginger reunited with her father. It didn’t exactly go off without a hitch, but they managed it well enough and Duke was volunteered to take them to another safe house. One that Vince assured them that he and Dave were the only ones that knew about. He didn’t want to use any of the rest of the guard until he knew who was loyal to him and who wasn’t. 

They were getting Ginger and her father’s stuff loaded in the truck and Duke walked over to where they were talking just in time to hear him tell her that the next place would be better. “And safer,” Duke added. “No more bad guys.”

“And no more pirates either,” she said sadly. 

Duke looked between her and her father for a moment as he tried to think how to handle it before he crouched in front of her again. “Yeah, but you’re gonna have your dad there,” he pointed out. “And you are gonna find new pirates to play with. I promise.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the eye patch they’d been playing with. “In fact, I was thinking you could hold onto this for me.”

“Can you stay with us?” she asked hopefully. 

“I think they need me here,” Duke said apologetically, hating how sad she seemed. “But maybe I could come and visit sometime.” 

Ginger managed a smile at that as she reached out and punched his shoulder. “Well maybe, you should come with your daughter and a Mrs. pirate.” 

Duke couldn’t resist a glance over his shoulder at Audrey as he said, “Yeah. Maybe.” He turned back and got up. “But right now we gotta go, okay?”


	46. Chapter 46

The safe house Duke was taking Ginger and her dad to was about eight hours away and it was already late so the stopped for the night after the first few hours and grabbed a motel along the way. Once Duke was ensconced in his own room for the night, he called the future Audrey and let her know how it all went as they talked for quite a while before finally calling it a night. When it came time for him to take the next trip out to her, she suggested that he get her stocked for the next two weeks. The last two weeks they would have to spend apart. They both knew that Nathan would be riding his ass after the current timeline Audrey went into the barn and leaving would be difficult. She would spend that week getting everything packed up and ready to move onto the Cape Rouge. 

That visit ended up being more emotional than they’d expected. Not only was it that last one before they could come out in the open, but they would be apart for two weeks afterwards instead of one. That and the fact that Duke needed a little reassurance for his almost kinda relationship with the current timeline Audrey meant that they barely left each other’s arms for the entire almost twenty-four hours he was there. Duke also got her approval for what he was considering for the other Audrey’s last night. Not that he needed her approval of course. She’d made that more than clear in the past. He knew that she was okay with all of it. It just made him feel better to get a more specific okay now that the possibility was closer to being real. 

When he got back to Haven he had Sunday lunch with the current timeline Audrey before they curled up together on his couch. That had basically been the extent of their relationship. Cuddling with the occasional mostly chaste kisses thrown in. They hadn’t even crossed the line into what might be considered making out and Duke didn’t intend to now. He knew that she needed the comfort though with what was coming so he would give her as much of this as he could when they had the time. When they said goodnight after dinner though, he kissed her much more deeply and fully and she left the boat in something of a daze with a big grin on her face. 

The next day was a total waste, what with the fact that most of the town stayed in a coma for more than half the day. It wasn’t the full day though at least since Audrey knew who he was and how to fix it this time and Tuesday had people starting to get into town for the reunion the next night. Duke had jumped in to help out at the Gull when it was busier than usual, and was just bringing in the last case of wine he had on hand and was about to go get some more when he was waylaid by someone who didn’t really look familiar at all. “Duke! There you are,” she said and he just looked blankly at her, trying to place her. This was what he hated about reunions. People he hadn’t seen in a decade and half expecting him to remember them. There were very few people from high school that he actually cared enough to even /try/ to remember. “It’s Janine,” she told him. 

“Janine! Right. The…the reunion,” he said, trying to make it seem like he hadn’t recognized her because he forgot about the reunion. He knew that she wasn’t the one who would be turning him back into a teenager, but she was friends with the guy who was. If she complained to him then that could cause it and he really wanted to avoid it so he would do his best to be nice. It didn’t help that he was more than shocked at how much she’d changed. “I’m sorry. How, uh…how are you? It’s been a long time.”

“I’m doing good,” Janine said, playing with her earring seductively. “I like your place. Do you…run it…with your wife?” she asked, trying and failing to sound casual. She knew that he wasn’t married, she’d gotten that much from the bartender, but she still needed to ask. 

“No. No, no wife for me, but…”

She cut him off with a drawled, “Really? The way all those girls used to chase you,” she leaned towards him suggestively not noticing his discomfort as she trailed her hand up his arm. “If I remember correctly, I think I caught you once or twice.”

Duke caught her hand in his and gently removed it from his person as he said, “Yeah, those were…crazy times back then.” He was trying to find a way to gently let her know that he wasn’t available, but she just barreled right through. 

“That’s the good thing about reunions,” she smiled. “The chance to make some new memories.”

“But the old ones were so nice,” Duke said awkwardly. 

“I bet the new ones can be even nicer,” she suggested in a breathy voice. 

“Yeah, see, the thing is Janine…I’m kinda seeing someone,” he decided to just be blunt before her hands started wandering even more.

“Oh?” she asked skeptically. The bartenders had assured her that he was single. 

“Yeah…in fact…” he noticed Audrey come in in the nick of time. “Audrey sweetheart,” he reached a hand pulling her to his side and kissing her softly. “I want you to meet someone. This is Janine. We went to high school together.”

“Oh. It’s nice to meet you,” Audrey told her, reaching out a hand, confused as to why Duke was suddenly taking them public, but it didn’t take her but a minute to see the way she was looking at him and figured it out. 

Janine felt her hopes drop. She could clearly see that they loved each other by the way they looked at each other and she was clearly too comfortable in his arms for this to be a trick. “You too,” she told her with a tight smile. “How did you two meet?” she asked. 

“That is a funny story,” Audrey chuckled, leaning her head on Duke’s shoulder. “I had just got to town…what was it? About a year and a half ago?”

“Something like that yeah,” Duke agreed, seeing where she was going with this and mentally thanking her for coming to his rescue. 

“There was this big storm that came out of nowhere while I was on the docks. I got knocked unconscious and fell in the water. He jumped in after me, pulled me out, did cpr, the works, and the rest is history,” Audrey told her, deliberately making it seem like they’d been together since but not actually saying so in case it needed to be walked back later. “I’m more interested in hearing stories from Duke’s high school days though. He doesn’t talk about those times much,” she smirked, fully intending to pay Duke back for dragging her into this. 

“Oh god,” Duke groaned, wondering if this would be worse than being turned into a teenager for blowing her off. “If you’re gonna get into that, I’m gonna get back to work,” he tried to make his escape and thankfully succeeded this time, dropping a quick kiss to Audrey’s lips and telling Janine, “It was great to see you again.” 

Audrey did manage to get a couple halfhearted stories that she actually did enjoy, even if Janine’s demeanor left a lot to be desired, before they were both saved by the bell when Audrey’s phone rang. “Excuse me,” Audrey told her as she stepped aside to take the call. 

Janine noticed the badge and gun as she reached for her phone and was even more surprised that Duke of all people was dating a cop. It was just more proof that they were meant to be though, and she never had a chance. It also explained why the bartender didn’t know. They might not make it particularly public. When Audrey came back a minute later and said that she had to go, Janine gave her a tight smile and said, “Of course. I’ll see you and Duke at the reunion?” 

“Probably. As long as work doesn’t intrude. You know how it is,” Audrey told her dismissively. She did hope that Duke would be talked into going with her. It would probably depend on how fast word got around about their surprisingly out relationship. If Nathan didn’t already know, there was no point in poking that bear. 

Since Audrey already knew who the troubled person was, it made it a little easier, but not as much as she would have expected. She wondered if it was just fate being persistent, but he didn’t want to believe her and Duke did end up getting turned into a teenager again and ended up having to go to the reunion like that. She did tell him how cute he was as a teenager and even got him to dance with her a few times. Not that the dances were anything but completely chaste. Neither of them were particularly comfortable with anything more when he was in the body of a teenager, plus she was officially there with Nathan. Partially because they were working and partially because he hadn’t heard about her and Duke yet. 

She did finally get an opening a little later to finally convince Robert when he was caught in the act and Duke was more than a little relieved to be back in his own body again, and when he saw that Nathan wasn’t paying attention, he swept Audrey up in a celebratory kiss, completely missing the look from Janine. She’d figured out over the course of the night that they were keeping their relationship a secret from her partner and the reasons were obvious. He’d been nice to her though and even danced with her a few times, so she would keep their secret.


	47. Chapter 47

The next morning, Duke brought Audrey coffee again, as he had been every morning since she’d learned everything and they were curled up on the couch talking about how they were going to get Nathan out of the way when he solved their problem for them by showing up. “We’re running out of time to find a way out of this barn thing,” he said as he came in, no longer surprised to see Duke there with coffee. 

Duke shot Audrey a look and she gave him an almost imperceptible nod, so Duke took over with the distraction. “I did have a few ideas about that. We can put a guard on her door until the meteor storm is over…” That was as far as he got before Nathan hit the floor revealing Audrey standing behind him with an empty syringe and a sheepish look on her face and Duke couldn’t help but laugh. “Do you know how long he’ll be out for?”

“According to Claire, this should keep him out for at least twelve hours. I’ve got another shot for the guard in case they need it once he wakes up,” she told him. 

“Did you tell her why you needed it?” Duke asked worriedly. 

“Not about the time travel future me part. Just that I knew I needed to go and I needed to stop him from interfering because he would never accept it,” she told him. “I swore her to secrecy on it though and even used her confidentiality oaths by bringing it up during an actual session.” 

“Okay, good enough,” Duke agreed. It was too late in the game to be quibbling over it anyway. “Let me call Vince and get some people over here to pick him up.”

They were both a little surprised when it was Dwight that showed up alone. “Just you, Squatch?” Duke asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“Apparently I’m the only one that Vince can be positive he can trust right now,” Dwight said with a shrug. “That mess with the kid has him jumping at shadows.”

“You’re gonna be able to hold him though right?” Audrey asked worriedly. 

“Sure thing. Long as he stays out until we get there in about an hour, the chains and bars will be more than enough. They’re strong enough to even hold a transformed Crocker,” he said, knowing that Duke would know just how strong that would have to be. 

“I really don’t want to know how you know that,” Duke huffed. 

Dwight winced as he realized that he should have found a different way to put it, but he just dropped the subject since Duke was right. He really didn’t want to know. Instead he just said, “I won’t be letting my guard down either way and have a fully loaded tranquilizer gun just in case.”

“Okay, but here,” Audrey felt a lot better handing the other dose of the sedative off to Dwight rather than some random guard member. “This will keep him out for at least twelve hours and wait at least that long before you give it to him. It’s probably a little safer than the tranq gun if you can avoid using that.” 

“I’ll do my best,” Dwight promised. 

Audrey hesitated for a minute before she moved over to give Dwight a hug. “I would say I’ll miss you, but since I won’t remember you…”

“It’s okay,” Dwight chuckled sadly as he hugged her back. “It’s the thought that counts. It’s a very brave thing you’re doing, you know. Thank you. From all of us troubled.” 

“You’re welcome,” she said with a sniffle. “I could never let anyone suffer if I could prevent it.”

Dwight pulled back and clapped her shoulders before turning to Duke. “You sure we’re not going to have a problem with you too?” 

“I’m sure. I get why she’s doing it and I’ll respect her decision,” Duke assured him. “You want some help getting him downstairs?” 

“Nah, I got it,” Dwight said leaning down to pick Nathan up, slinging him over his shoulders as he headed down to his truck. 

Once Dwight was gone, Duke turned to Audrey and said, “Since you’re leaving tomorrow morning, today is all about you. Whatever you want to do. Just name it.” 

“Can we just…spend the day together? I don’t care where or how, just…” 

“We can do that,” Duke said gently, moving back to the couch and pulling her to sit sideways across his lap. “And I’ll cook you up a nice lunch and dinner. Anything you want.” 

“Actually…I kinda want pizza for lunch,” she told him. Partially because she didn’t want to let him go any longer than she had to. She knew how much he would enjoy cooking her dinner though so she would give him that one. 

“Then we’ll get pizza. They don’t deliver out here but I can bribe one of the staff from downstairs to go get it.” 

“Perfect,” she said happily, resting her head on his shoulder and playing with his hair that was falling out of the ponytail. “Tell me about the life we’ll have? You and the other me?” she asked hopefully. 

“Okay,” he said softly, pressing a loving kiss to her head. If she wanted to spend the day immersed in fantasies of the life she couldn’t have, he would indulge her as much as she wanted. “There is actually one thing I wanted to ask you.” He would never have a chance like this again after all. Not that he would have wanted to put it on her if she hadn’t asked for what she did. 

“What is it?” she asked curiously. 

“If you were going to be proposed to…what would you see as the absolute perfect, pie in the sky, dream proposal?” 

Audrey grinned happily as she thought about it. She was so glad he’d asked. The idea that there was even a chance that some version of her would get the perfect proposal that she’d always dreamed of gave her more than enough strength to do whatever she needed to in order to make it happen. “Well it definitely wouldn’t be some big public thing.” 

“That’s a plus,” Duke chuckled. 

“But pictures or video would be great if you could manage the same kind of setup you did for our anniversary.”

“I can do that,” Duke easily agreed. 

“So on the deck of the boat, preferably at sea,” she added that part for him since it didn’t really matter for her fantasy where they were. “Sing me a song.”

“What song?” he asked, making mental notes. 

“You have to pick that,” she grinned. “Otherwise it won’t mean as much.” 

“Okay I get that,” Duke admitted, waiting for her to continue. 

“At night, under the stars, but enough lighting that it’s not /too/ dark. I’d want to be able to see you clearly.”

“Anything else?” he asked. 

“For the proposal part no, but dancing is always nice,” she said wistfully, remembering the picture of them dancing. 

Duke smirked and slid her off his lap to go turn the radio on. Once he found an adequate station, he held out a hand in invitation and she grinned and took it. They ended up having to move the couch and coffee table out of the way to have room, but they spent the next couple hours dancing to whatever came on the radio until Manny showed up with their pizza. After they ate, they were both too full for more dancing so they resumed their previous position and got back to her request. 

The afternoon was spent with him telling her all about how they were going to live on the Cape Rouge, and he would still be travelling sometimes for work, but she would always be welcome to come with him whenever she could get away and the different places in the world he would show her. The sites they would visit. The adventures they would have. He had no idea how many, if any, of them would come to pass, but she was loving every word so he kept going right up until he needed to start dinner. 

Duke had to make a quick run to the Rouge to grab the ingredients she didn’t have for what he wanted to make. The dish that he made for their first date that she didn’t make it to that he’d never gotten back around to making for this version of her. The future version loved it though, so he knew it would be a hit and it wasn’t actually that hard to make. Once it was done, he turned off all the lights and made it a romantic candlelight dinner and she was almost in tears at how perfect it all was. After they ate, he put the dishes in the sink, not planning to worry about them until after she was gone, and he pulled her into a long deep kiss when they got up from the table. 

Audrey sank gratefully into the kiss, returning all the love and devotion that he was putting into it. When it started getting more passionate and he pulled her tightly against him, she went more than willingly. It wasn’t long after that before he pulled back and whispered breathlessly, “I’m yours, Audrey. I’ll give you anything you want tonight.”


	48. Chapter 48

“A-are you sure?” she asked hopefully. “I would never want you to do anything you didn’t really want to…”

“I love you, Audrey. Any version of you at any time. If you want me, I am /all/ yours. I want to give you one perfect night before you sacrifice everything to save us all,” he assured her, brushing her hair back and letting himself get lost in her eyes. That kiss had been a test. To make sure that he could go through with this. That he would be uncomfortable and hesitant because he knew that she would pick up on that and it would ruin it for her. 

“Yes, I want you,” she breathed out. “Make love to me, Duke?” 

“Absolutely,” he said intensely as he swept her up in another kiss, this one more like they’d started in Colorado, but this time he knew what to expect and she knew that she wasn’t the only Audrey in his heart, and there was no need to stop. He followed her lead and the first time was rough and fast and full of heat and passion, but the second time was slow and sweet, filled with loving words and gentle caresses. Kisses trailed over every inch of skin as they explored each other’s bodies, each of them pausing to bring the other to climax with their mouths and hands in the process before their last joining. 

It was everything Audrey had ever dreamed of. The perfect conclusion to her time in this world. If love was what the barn ran on, it’s batteries would be fully charged after this. As they lay there catching their breath, Audrey propped up on her elbow, hand dancing over his chest and stomach, and said, “I don’t want to sleep tonight.” She didn’t see any reason to be rested when she met her fate. It hardly mattered how tired she was. 

“Then we won’t,” he promised as he reached up to brush her sweat-slick hair back from her face. “But I’m gonna need a little while to recover if you want some more of that,” he teased. 

“That’s okay. So do I,” she laughed before she laid back down, head resting on his chest. “I just want to be with you right now.” 

“And I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered, running his hands over her body. “I’ll be right here by your side until the end.” 

“I’m glad that my leaving won’t hurt you,” she said softly as she pressed a kiss to his sweaty chest. 

Duke frowned and slid a hand to her cheek, nudging her up to look at him. “Of course, it will hurt. Losing you will never be easy even if there /is/ another version of you that can stay.”

Audrey smiled sadly at that and kissed him lovingly before she said, “Then let me rephrase that. I’m glad that you’ll be okay once I’m gone.”

“That’s a better way to put it,” he agreed. “But never think that you don’t matter, or that I won’t miss you because you do and I will.” This whole thing was completely confusing his heart to no end, but what else could he do but go with it. 

“I love you so much, Duke.”

“And I love you, Audrey,” he whispered back and they lapsed into a comfortable silence, filled with random kisses and wandering hands before they were ready for another round of lovemaking. After a few hours to rest and just enjoy each other some more, Duke suggested a shower. They were both all sweaty and sticky and it was close enough to morning. They ended up taking a very long shower, having one more round in there. 

The sun was just starting to come up as they got out and Duke went to the stove to cook her favorite breakfast before they had to leave. The meteor storm had started last night and judging from the future Audrey’s memories, they had a few more hours until the meteors started to hit Haven. They had just finished eating when there was an urgent knocking on the door. Duke threw a shirt on to get the door while Audrey dashed for the bathroom to finish getting dressed. “You’re still here?” Vince asked worriedly. 

“We were just finishing breakfast and then heading out,” Duke told him. “Don’t worry. She’s still going and we still have a few hours to spare.” 

“I’m coming with you,” Vince told him. 

“I figured you would,” Duke shrugged. 

“Not because I don’t trust her to go,” Vince felt the need to add. “Because if the guard lashes out I need to be there to rein them in and I need to see with my own eyes to reassure my loyalists.” 

“I get it,” Duke told him, not having needed that explanation. 

“And so do I,” Audrey said as she came out, pulling her hair back in a ponytail. It would be easier to manage on the boat ride that way. “We should probably clean up before we go,” she said with a wince as she noticed the massive amount of dishes from both yesterday and this morning. 

“You are not going to spend your last bit of time in this world cleaning,” Duke said amusedly, steering her towards the door. “I’ll take care of it later.” 

Once they were on the boat and out of the more trafficked waters, Duke let Vince take the helm for a while and he took Audrey outside to the deck and wrapped his arms around her stomach as the wind rushed over them. The ultimate feeling of freedom in his mind and she had to agree. They stood there looking over the water until Duke saw the dock looming ahead and he headed back up to take care of the rest himself. Letting someone else man her through the open water was one thing, but this part was different. 

Vince kept his distance as the went up the hill to the clearing where the barn would appear and Agent Howard was sitting there waiting for her. “Ah, Just in time. Are you ready?” 

“Just give me a few minutes to say goodbye,” she told him, starting with Vince. 

“I thought this might be easier this time,” Vince said, already starting to tear up. “But it’s not.” He reached for her hand. “Goodbye, Audrey.”

“Goodbye Vince,” she said sadly, using his hand to pull him in for a hug before turning to Duke as Vince moved back to give them some privacy. She slid her hand up his chest to play with the lock of loose hair. “Duke…you have always been so good to me,” she said sadly. 

“It was easy,” he sniffled. He decided to try and lighten the mood before his emotions got the better of him. “Actually, it wasn’t…but you know me. I like a challenge.” 

She gave a watery chuckle and her voice shook as she said, “I’m sorry I won’t remember you when I come back.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek before whispering, “Especially last night.” 

Duke held her forehead to his for a long moment before he managed to say with a quivering voice, “I love you, Audrey.” 

“I love you too, Duke,” she assured him just before his lips met hers. The kiss was slow and sweet and said everything that words never could. The perfect goodbye. “Take good care of her,” she whispered. “And let her take care of you.” 

“I will,” Duke promised as she pulled away and started walking towards the barn, meeting Agent Howard at the door. She looked back and mouthed the words ‘I love you’ one more time before she stepped inside, and it was less than a minute before the barn disappeared. 

As he turned to head back to the boat, Vince fell into step beside him. “I think she’s the bravest one of all.”

“I didn’t doubt it for a minute,” Duke said sadly, turning to look back at the empty field before they passed the treeline. 

“At least she’s not really gone this time,” Vince told him. 

“I know. But she’ll never be the same,” Duke sighed. 

“No one really is from one day to the next,” Vince said comfortingly, placing a hand on Duke’s shoulder. 

“I know,” Duke agreed. “But I still need to feel this one. At least for a little while.”

“I understand,” Vince said gravely as they continued to walk.


	49. Chapter 49

No other words were exchanged as they headed back to Haven and as Vince headed back into town, Duke took out his phone to call the future Audrey. Now the only Audrey. He knew he had at least an hour before Nathan came looking for him. “It’s done,” he said as she picked up the phone. 

“No problems?” she asked. 

“It went off without a hitch,” he assured her. 

“Are you okay?” she asked gently. 

“I will be,” he said with a sigh before admitting, “I slept with her last night.”

“I thought you would,” she said with a knowing smile. She knew that he’d been waffling on the idea, but suspected that he would want to give her everything she wanted on her last night in the end. “It makes it harder doesn’t it?” she guessed. 

“Yeah. It does.” 

“If you need to go and just keep her in your mind for a while without cluttering it up with me too, that’s okay. I understand,” she told him. 

Duke felt yet another wash of love for this amazing woman as he said, “Yeah…okay…I think…that might help…I’ll call you tonight?” 

“If you’re ready,” she said sincerely. “Or you can call me tomorrow.” 

“Thank you, Audrey,” he said relieved, hearing from her tone that she was telling the truth about it not bothering her and wondering, not for the first time, how he ever got so lucky. 

Once he got off the phone, he took a few deep breaths to steady himself before heading up to her apartment. He would get all the dishes done and change out the bedding and do laundry and just get the place as good as new. It would be a nice way to remember her and all the times they’d had up here, even before last night. He had finished the first load of dishes and had the second one soaking, had pulled the bedding off the bed and started the washing machine, and was in the process of putting new sheets on the bed when the door slammed open and Nathan barreled inside. “Where is she?!” he asked frantically. 

“She’s gone, Nate,” Duke said sadly as he turned away from his task. 

“You son of a bitch!” Nathan said as he punched Duke, sending him sprawling across the half-made bed and landing on the other side. He’d known that even before Duke said it really. The fact that he could feel again was telling enough, but the words and the fact that Duke was still standing here like everything was okay just sent him over the edge. “How could you? How could you just…just…let her go?! I know you cared about her too…”

“Yeah. I did. And I always will,” Duke told him as he stood up, keeping the bed between them for the moment. At least until he was a little calmer. “I care enough to know that she could never live with the cost if she’d stayed. Every person who died, every life that was ruined, would tear her apart.” 

“But we could have helped her! At least she would still be here!”

“At what cost, Nathan?” Duke asked incredulously. “It wasn’t your decision. And it wasn’t my decision. No matter how much we hate it…it was her choice. Just like it was her idea to sedate you and keep you away. She knew that you would never let her go…”

“Damn right I wouldn’t have. And you shouldn’t have either,” Nathan snapped. 

Duke could see why the future Audrey had completely thrown out the idea of attempting to reason with him. “And that is exactly why she did it,” Duke said firmly. “Because you wouldn’t have respected her choice. You would have forced her to be responsible for destroying this entire town and that would have destroyed her too and if you can’t see that, then /you’re/ the one with the problem.” When Nathan tried to come after him again, Duke backed up. “If you can’t calm down then you should probably leave. This is still my property and you’re not affected by a trouble this time so I won’t have to feel bad if I make an assault complaint.” Not that he would go that far either way. It still wasn’t his style, but he wasn’t going to stand here and be a punching bag either, no matter how bad it made him feel to hit someone who was already in so much pain, so whatever he had to say to get him out of here he would do. 

Nathan turned and stormed out, slamming the door behind him so hard the glass busted, and Duke sighed. He would have to get that fixed too. First, he finished with the bed though and the second load of dishes, putting the last one on to soak, and then moved the bedding to the dryer and started her dirty clothes in the washer before he headed to the store to get some glass. The delay also helped him to not run into Nathan when he left. 

When he got back, he took a little while to replace the glass before getting back to the inside. He finished the last load of dishes, got them dried and put away, and then pulled the bedding out of the dryer. He folded up the sheets and put them on the top shelf of the closet and was just putting the blankets back on the bed when the door opened again. “I swear, Nate if I have to replace that glass twice in one day, I’m taking it out of your hide.” 

“What are you doing?” Nathan asked, much calmer now, though still more than pissed beneath the surface. 

“Cleaning up,” he told him. “Seems a nice way to remember her. Just being here and taking care of her things.” 

“You need any help?” Nathan asked. 

“I’m almost done with most of it, but you could start sweeping and dusting if you wanted to,” Duke shrugged. He hadn’t been planning to do that, but if Nathan felt the need to join in his remembrance, he wasn’t going to stop him. 

Nathan just nodded and went to get the rag to dust first. He could see that the counters in the kitchen had already been cleaned so he started elsewhere. By the time he started sweeping, Duke pulled her clothes out of the dryer and started folding them and hanging them up and Nathan abandoned the sweeping to help with that. “You still shouldn’t have let her go,” Nathan said stubbornly as he reached for a shirt to fold. 

“I did what she wanted,” Duke said just as stubbornly. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s always the right thing to do when it concerns her life.” 

“No matter who it hurts in the process,” Nathan huffed. 

“We can pick up and move on, Nate. We’ll never get over her, but we can still go on without her. If she’d stayed, people would have died and they would have kept dying. The troubles would have destroyed this town and everyone in it. You really think that was a better option?” Duke pointed out. 

“We could have found another way,” he said seriously. “There’s always another way.” He knew that he was beating a dead horse. That it was over and done with and there was no way to get her back now. That didn’t make him any less pissed at Duke for letting her go. Or for keeping him locked up. He could say it was Audrey’s idea all he wanted, but she wasn’t exactly here to contradict that. Even if it was true, Duke clearly helped so his anger was still valid. 

“Except when there’s not,” Duke said firmly. “You think we’re the first people in all the time that this cycle has been going on to not want to let her go? You think we’re the first ones that have wanted to find another way?” 

“You had no right to knock me out and lock me up like that,” Nathan said harshly. 

“Maybe not. But you shouldn’t have made it necessary,” Duke told him. 

“I could have you arrested for that you know,” Nathan snapped. 

“You don’t honestly think you could make it stick do you?” Duke scoffed. “Any troubled person in this town would give me an airtight alibi the second I asked for this one. Not to mention, I didn’t actually do anything. Audrey is the one who sedated you. Sasquatch took you out of here and locked you up. I didn’t lay a finger on you, and I don’t even know where you were taken, so good luck with that.” 

Nathan knew that he lost that battle before it even began, but he was determined to get Duke on something. He couldn’t just let him get away with this. He settled for saying, “We’ll see.” They were done with the laundry now and Nathan had his fill of being near Duke, so he just left again. 

Duke finished cleaning and headed back to the Cape Rouge for dinner before calling Audrey, feeling a lot more settled now than he had this morning, and he opened the call with an apology which she brushed off as unnecessary like he’d known that she would. He just still felt the need to say it anyway. He told her about Nathan’s reaction. Both times he’d come, including the black eye that he was currently icing as he laid down in his bed. Audrey wasn’t the slightest bit surprised about his stubbornness, though she did feel bad for Duke’s black eye, but like he told her. He’d had much worse more times than he could count.


	50. Chapter 50

Duke was chomping at the bit to go see Audrey, but Nathan was watching him like a hawk, even going so far as to stake him out so he had to wait until it was time to bring her back to town. The last thing he wanted was to lead Nathan to his secret hideaway. Then he would never be able to use it again, not to mention, probably definitely end up in jail once he got in there to search. He wouldn’t be able to go until it was time to pick her up. He still called her every night, letting her know how things were settling in town and the newest annoyance that Nathan pulled while she updated him on how her packing and organizing was going and what she was going to leave behind and what she was bringing with her. 

Audrey was surprised at how much she was going to miss this house. It had started out feeling more like a prison, but somehow had become a home, despite the fact that she couldn’t leave it. She had so many wonderful memories here with Duke and her boredom had her sprucing the place up in so many ways, like adding the pictures, making nick-knacks out of random things that were lying around once Duke got her some craft sets, she even painted the bedroom at one point after a laughing Duke told her to have fun with it and got her the paint. Then he helped her paint the hallway and bathroom to match the following weekend and they had made a fun project out of it, ending up with as much paint on themselves as they did the walls. After all that, it was hard to see this place as anything but home. She knew that she would come to see the Rouge the same way too. She already did to a point. It was just the normal melancholy about moving she was sure. 

When the day came, Audrey assured Duke that she would be ready by the time he got there and started taking her stuff out to the dock. She still had the same single duffel bag of clothes that she’d arrived with, not seeing the point of wasting Duke’s time and money to buy her more clothes when she didn’t even go anywhere and had an entire wardrobe in the apartment waiting for her when this was over. The only thing she’d added there was the dress that Duke got her for their anniversary. That was only the least of her stuff though. She had four boxes full of books, one of movies and the framed pictures and mementos, and one other one of random stuff. Plus her backpack with her computer, notebooks, and other miscellaneous odds and ends. 

When he pulled up, she wrapped the mooring lines, but didn’t tie them since they’d be right there the whole time, nor did Duke shut down the engines. He did grab her up in a searing kiss and swing her around the second he came down the ladder, having missed her more than he thought possible the last two weeks and she was right there with him. It didn’t last long though before he was helping her load stuff into the boat. As soon as it was all loaded, he headed back up to the helm while she unwrapped the mooring lines and they were headed back to Haven. Duke had to bribe someone to distract Nathan so that he could get away as it was. He didn’t want to be gone any longer than he had to be. 

While they were moving, Audrey was taking the stuff inside to put away, starting with her clothes. Duke had already cleaned out the space for her. The movies she just put in the spare room closet, knowing that they would rarely, if ever, be watched again. There wasn’t even a tv on the boat. She ran into a problem with the books though. Duke kept his bookshelves full. Those boxes she just left packed for the moment, wedging them under the table to keep them somewhat steady with the moving boat. It would work well enough until they got back to Haven at least and then they could figure it out together. 

No sooner than Duke pulled back up at the dock, Nathan was right there with a dozen questions and Duke sighed heavily and when Nathan all but demanded to search the boat, Duke just smirked and invited him aboard, knowing that this needed to be taken care off sooner rather than later and Audrey was expecting it too. Maybe not the /second/ they docked, but she knew it wouldn’t take long. “Honey, we have company,” Duke called amusedly as he headed inside. 

Audrey snorted amusedly and started pouring two whiskeys, one for Duke and one for Nathan before starting a screwdriver for herself. They would all need booze for this one. She had just finished theirs when they walked in and Nathan stopped in shock in the doorway, Audrey handed both of the whiskey’s to Duke who took one back to Nathan while she made her own drink and then she and Duke went to sit comfortably on the couch while they waited for Nathan to come out of his stupor. The didn’t sit together exactly, not wanting to start things off on the wrong foot to begin with, but Nathan would know about them before he left at least. 

It seemed like forever before Nathan started walking towards them with a stammered, “How…what…when…” before he hauled her to her feet and gave her a crushing hug. 

As she hugged him back, she was glad that she’d remembered to die her hair at the last minute last night. It made the start of this conversation much easier. “This is a very long story, so you might as well get comfortable,” she told him, gesturing to the loveseat as she retook her own seat. 

“How are you here? I thought you went into the barn? But the troubles are gone. And how did Duke know? And…”

“And if you’ll take a second to breathe we’ll answer all your questions,” Duke chuckled and Nathan abruptly shut his mouth and his ass hit the loveseat. 

“Thank you,” Audrey said amusedly. “First of all, you should know that I did leave in the barn last week. At least one version of me did. I’m from the future, sent back by Stuart Mosely when Haven was on the verge of destruction.” 

“There were two of you?” Nathan asked confused. “For how long? And how long has Duke known?” 

“I got here over a year ago. October second of last year. Duke was the first person I contacted. I had to stay out of sight and he had safehouses and could get me groceries and supplies,” she told him. “You know how time travel works. I couldn’t tell too many people.”

“That’s the secret you had with my dad. And then with Vince. That’s what he meant when he said that you gave him an extra few months,” Nathan realized. 

“In my timeline, he died the same day as Max Hansen. And you two had never reconciled before his death. I was a little more experienced with the troubles when I got here so I suggested meditation and asked Duke to teach him,” Audrey explained. She knew that they would get back to her story first, but he had to understand Duke’s involvement first. If nothing else to keep a fight from breaking out judging by the look on Nathan’s face. “It was /my/ decision who to let in on this secret. Not Duke’s. Not your father’s. Not Vince’s. Don’t you even think about taking it out on Duke.” 

“He still should have told me,” Nathan said irritated. 

“No. He shouldn’t have,” Audrey said harshly. “Because you’ve made it /very/ clear over the years that my opinions, my feelings, my decisions mean nothing to you.” 

“What?” Nathan snapped over to look at her hurt. “You don’t really think that, do you?” 

“I don’t think that. I /know/ that. Look at how you reacted to me going into the barn. /My/ decision. You didn’t care how I would feel about every person that suffered if I didn’t. As long as /you/ didn’t have to lose me. And last time around your obsession nearly destroyed all of Haven. /Would/ have destroyed it if I hadn’t come back to fix it.”

“What do you…” Nathan felt like all the breath had been sucked out of his lungs. 

“Last time, you destroyed the barn. That caused the meteors to fall /on/ Haven. Not just across the sky. Hundreds died that night alone. Including our son. I know you’ve figured out that James is yours and didn’t even think to tell me…”

“I just never found the right time,” Nathan tried to defend that part of it. 

“It doesn’t matter anymore. James was inside the barn. He died back in eighty three and Lucy took him into the barn to bring him back, but he’s tied to the barn now. He can’t survive outside it for more than a few hours. You /knew/ that when you destroyed it, and killed him along with it. In addition to the hundreds of people who died when the meteors fell.” She wasn’t holding back any punches. If she had any hope of getting her friend back, he needed to completely understand how screwed up he was and that he needed to fix it. “That’s not even considering that I was inside the barn at the time too. I had just run in the door when you did it. And then when it was falling into whatever dimension it went to in pieces, Duke jumped in after me to try and save me.”

“And he did,” Nathan said relieved. 

“And yet you don’t bat an eye when I tell you that hundreds of other people died because of it. That your own son died because of it,” she pointed out. “But you’re relieved that I survived. Think about that for a minute.” Nathan couldn’t help but wince as he realized what she was getting at, but couldn’t think of anything to say about it, so she continued. “Time works differently in the barn’s dimension and it took a little more than six months in this world for the destruction to be complete. Duke fell out first and then the two of you pulled out all the stops to get me out a few days later just in time before the barn died completely. In that six months, Haven had gone to hell. New troubles every day, people dying left and right, martial law and armed militia in the streets, half the town boarded up or under rubble, and you had a death order out by the guard. Only Duke’s quick thinking saved your life when you came back to find me and only my threats kept you alive afterwards. You’d spent that six months on the run before Duke got back and found you. When we found out that the barn dying had released a ‘great evil’ that would complete the destruction of Haven, that was the last straw, and I went to find Stuart Mosely.”

“And that’s why you wouldn’t tell me when you got back,” Nathan realized, heart heavy with guilt. More so because he didn’t feel guilty for the right things. That he knew that he would do the same thing again if the situation presented itself. 

“Exactly. And why I made the plan to keep you away by any means necessary and got Duke, Vince, and my past self to help,” she told him.


	51. Chapter 51

Nathan took a few shaky breaths before saying, “So, what now? You just go back to your apartment and life like nothing ever happened?” 

“I’m not going back to my apartment,” she told him. “I’m staying right here on the Cape Rouge.” She slid over closer to Duke who wrapped his arm around her and kissed her head. 

“You two are…but…”

“We were together in the future and apparently pretty happy. As much as we could be with the disasters going on,” Duke explained. “So much so that my future self sent me a letter back with her telling me all about it and that I could trust her and how happy we would be if I let myself love her. I decided to give it a shot and he was right. Not that I’m ever wrong of course, but…oof.” Audrey cut him off with a playful slap to his chest as she laughed. 

“We celebrated our one year anniversary a few months ago, and decided that when I came back to town I would move in here,” Audrey told him. “I’ll still keep the apartment of course for when he needs to take the Rouge out on business and I can’t get away, but otherwise, yeah. This is my home now.”

“You mean his /illegal/ business?” Nathan asked pointedly. 

“I’m not asking any questions,” Audrey smirked. 

“And you think that you can be a cop and still live with a known criminal on a smuggling ship,” Nathan asked incredulously. 

“That’s the plan, but you’re the chief, so I guess the final call is yours,” Audrey shrugged. 

Nathan couldn’t even consider that right now so he changed the subject. “So you and the other Audrey…” he asked Duke, trailing off and letting Duke get his meaning. 

“She was still Audrey and yes I loved her. And she loved me. We weren’t together for the most part though. We just didn’t have the same history I did with this one and it wasn’t quite the same.” He didn’t need to broadcast the details of their ‘arrangement’. It was none of Nathan’s business. 

“Last time around, Duke and I didn’t get together until I got out of the barn anyway though we had confessed our feelings right before I went in,” Audrey told him, not wanting him to feel like she had cheated this Audrey out of anything. 

“This is…a lot to wrap my head around,” Nathan said hesitantly. 

“I know. And I still have a few more days of my vacation left for you to do that. If you want me to come back to the station at all of course,” Audrey said with a shrug. 

“I…don’t even know right now,” Nathan shook his head. 

“If I can make a suggestion?” she asked, getting a nod from Nathan. “I really think you should talk to Claire, and I’m so glad we saved her life this time,” she said relieved. “I’ll be telling her everything about me and the time travel too, so you won’t have to worry about keeping any secrets. You have /got/ to get over this obsession with me if we’re ever going to be friends again and she can help you.” 

“Yeah, I…I think I’ll do that,” Nathan nodded. When she laid everything he’d done and caused out like that, it was obvious that he needed help. “And…I’ll let you know about work.” Between the complications in her personal life and the fact that the workload would drastically decrease with the troubles gone, he needed some time to think about it. 

Once Nathan had left them alone, Audrey let out a heavy sigh and slumped against Duke’s side. “That was…what’s the opposite of fun?” 

“You’re telling me,” Duke chuckled. “But now we can spend the rest of the day getting you moved in completely. Starting with…” he pulled a keyring out of his pocket. “This is only the keys to the living area and the helm.”

“Because you don’t want to put me in a difficult position with my job by giving me keys to the places you store illegal things,” she nodded understandingly, surprised that he even included the keys to the helm. 

“Exactly,” he nodded. “I’m sure there are probably some things you want to get from your apartment…”

“Actually, first we need to talk about a few things,” she told him. 

“Like what?” he asked, trying to keep the nerves out of his voice and remind himself that she’d just told Nathan that she was absolutely living here so there was no need to worry. 

“Well books for example. There’s not really any room…”

“Ah. I see what you mean,” Duke nodded moving over to sit on the floor in front of the bookshelves. “How about we each get half to put our favorites on and the rest we get bookshelves in the apartment for and then we can change them out whenever we feel like it,” he suggested as he started going through and pulling books off the shelves.

“That sounds like a perfect idea,” she grinned as she started going through her own book boxes to fill in the empty spots. They could worry more about organization later. “You know…I never actually got a chance to ask you…how many languages do you speak?” she asked as she noticed once again, the number of different languages of his books. 

“I speak four. Russian, Japanese, and Spanish along with English. I also read Dutch and French, but my pronunciation of those is horrible,” he chuckled.

“I don’t know. I’d like to hear you try,” she said suggestively. 

Duke laughed and shook his head. “Maybe later. When we have a little more time for fun,” he waggled his eyebrows at her, completely getting her meaning. 

“I’ll hold you to that,” she smirked. 

“I hope so,” Duke grinned. 

It took them about half an hour to finish the books and the ones he removed filled out her boxes and they worked together to get them up to her apartment, just setting them on the floor for now. “Did I seriously do laundry right before I went into the barn?” she asked amusedly as she realized there weren’t any dirty clothes. 

“No, I did after,” Duke told her with a laugh. “I knew you’d want to get stuff from up here, so I thought it would be helpful.”

Audrey leaned over and kissed him softly. “It was very helpful. Thank you.” She took a little time going through her clothes. She didn’t exactly have much on the Rouge right now, and Duke helpfully made a few suggestions of things that he liked seeing her in which she gladly added to the pile. There wasn’t really anything else here that she wanted to take aside from a few of the coffee mugs that were Duke’s anyway and had been left here with their morning coffees. She was almost out the door when she did think of something else though and went back for her two favorite throw blankets. 

Once all that was put up, Duke took her to bed, showing off his horrible pronunciation of French that she didn’t seem to mind in the slightest as they made up for missing each other for the last two weeks and celebrated the fact that they were now officially living together. The next day, they went together to get some bookshelves for the apartment, partially just to get her seen around town again and to get people used to seeing them together now that they weren’t hiding anything anymore, but also because they wanted to pick them out together. The got those up and the books put on them in short order and then it was back to the boat for the next project. Putting up pictures. 

Duke pulled out the clamps he used for standing pictures to keep them steady and put the one on the nightstand next to the baby picture of Jean that he kept there and then the three other standing ones around the boat once they decided where to put them. Then they got to the two that could be mounted on the wall and he pulled out his screwdriver to bolt them on, even if one of them did mean moving his swordfish. At least she didn’t try to make him get rid of it completely. It just got moved up a few inches to make room for the picture of them dancing on their anniversary. 

Audrey had decided to invite Claire over for dinner that night, promising the full story of how she was back when she got there. She knew that Claire had always been supportive of her feelings for Duke and would be happy for them and enjoy spending time with them both. She got the full story out while Duke cooked and even showed her some of the pictures which she gushed over. Especially their anniversary and was floored when Audrey told her that it was all Duke’s doing, even the dress. When she noticed the jewelry, Audrey told her the story of her first birthday back here and the dolphins. They planned to go out and celebrate this birthday next weekend since they hadn’t been able to see each other on her birthday this year since it was only a few days before the barn. 

Claire hadn’t realized how serious Nathan’s problem was until Audrey’s explanation of the future, along with his reactions when she told him about it and she gladly promised to help him if he would let her. It was about that point in the conversation when Duke came in with the food, and they spent the rest of the meal with Claire pumping them for stories about their relationship, considering the whole thing more than a little romantic. 

Nathan had decided to have her back at work. At least on a trial basis, so she started back the next day once her vacation time was up, but it was quite the adjustment. Not only had she been out of work for over a year, but without the troubles, it was a lot different from before anyway. There were quite a few mistakes whenever people mentioned things she’d said or done recently, but she managed to muddle through and deflect suspicion. There was a lot of talk about her relationship with Duke and she gladly joined in the gossip, her tone depending on what they’d been saying when she jumped in. Some people were not happy about their lead detective dating the town crook. Most of them took it in stride though. 

For her birthday this year and celebration of her first week back on the job, Duke took her to a nice Japanese restaurant, which did involve dressing up, though he did as little as he could get away with, and then they went dancing after. Despite the fact that it was more than two weeks after her birthday, Duke didn’t give up her present until the end of the night when they got home. She gasped when she opened it and immediately asked, “Did you make this?” 

“Sure did,” he grinned. “Do you like it?” 

“It’s amazing,” she said in awe as her fingers traced the incredible amount of detail in the dolphins engraved on the lid and the swirls and flowers around the sides of the wooden jewelry box. When she opened it and it played the first song they danced to on their anniversary, the tears welled up in her eyes. 

“The music wheel I had to get someone else to make,” Duke admitted, but clearly Audrey didn’t care because she all but tackled him with a searing kiss and showed him in the best way just how much she loved it right there on the floor. Once they had caught their breath and got up, she returned to her perusal of it before going to get her earrings and bracelet that matched her necklace to put in there. The necklace she never took off, but the earrings and bracelet were a little much for daily wear.


	52. Chapter 52

The first trip Duke took that would be more than two days and couldn’t wait for a weekend for Audrey to go along was about two months after she’d moved back to Haven, and he was gone for a week. She caught the looks from Nathan over the course of that whole week that were clearly meant as a comment about Duke’s ‘job’, but she ignored them and just did her own job. Duke had lost quite a bit of business when his clients found out that he was dating a cop who lived with him on the boat, but most of them trusted him enough not to care and after a few months without any incidents, his business started picking up again. 

Audrey had been living on the boat for almost six months when Duke started ring shopping. He wasn’t going to propose until after time caught up with itself on July fourteenth, but he wanted the ring before that. If she did disappear, and that was something that he didn’t even want to consider so they weren’t talking about it at all, then he would keep it to remember her by, but if she didn’t he had every intention of putting it on her finger if she actually said yes. 

The only sign that it was approaching was the fact that Audrey had taken a week off work again and spent that time wrapped up in Duke’s arms, both of them clinging to each other for all they were worth. They hadn’t told the other Audrey about the possibility for a reason, but they had to tell Nathan and Claire who were their best friends and Nathan was starting to get over his issues. Enough to recognize the fact that there was nothing anyone could do about it if she did. She would just cease to exist. During the week leading up to, they had two dinners with the four of them, but the rest of the time it was just her and Duke. 

When they woke up the morning of the fifteenth, they didn’t get up for a good two hours, being too busy celebrating the fact that she was still there. When they did get up, she called Nathan and Claire to let them know before Duke told her they were taking the boat out for the day and wouldn’t be back until morning. He took her back to the cove where the dolphins were to find that they were still there and they spent the day there much like they had the last one except when the sun went down, they stayed on the deck and Duke sat her down on the futon and grabbed his ukulele. 

Duke took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves before he went down on one knee in front of her and started to play the opening of the song he’d picked. “I wanna make you smile, Whenever you're sad. Carry you around when your arthritis is bad. All I wanna do, Is grow old with you,” he sang as the tears welled up in her eyes and she realized what was happening. “I'll get you medicine, When your tummy aches. Build you a fire if the furnace breaks. Oh it could be so nice, Growin' old with you.” She reached out to brush her hand over his cheek as he started the next verse and he leaned into her touch with a nervous but happy smile. “I'll miss you, kiss you, Give you my coat when you are cold. Need you, feed you. Even let you hold the remote control. So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink. Put you to bed when you've had too much to drink. Oh I could be the man, Who grows old with you.” He put the ukulele down as he pulled the ring box out of his pocket as he sang the last line. “I wanna grow old with you.” As he opened the box, he couldn’t get out more than a whisper as he asked, “Marry me?” 

“Yes,” Audrey croaked through the tears running down her cheeks and Duke slid the ring on her finger. “Yes, I’ll marry you,” she said a little stronger and his hands went to her face, thumbs brushing back the tears as he pressed a loving kiss to her lips before joining her on the futon where they watched the stars on the beautiful summer night and listened to the dolphin song and talked about their wedding until they fell asleep. 

Claire squealed when she saw the ring and then again when Audrey told her how he’d proposed and even Nathan was impressed, having gotten over his issues with Audrey by now thanks to Claire’s help. Duke admitted to Nathan that he’d cheated and asked the other Audrey about her dream proposal, but Audrey was still in the dark about it. Maybe he would tell her someday, but for now he would just let her bask in it. 

They’d decided to get married on October second. Their two year anniversary. Duke joked that it was because he didn’t want to have to try and remember another anniversary, but Audrey knew that he was just that much of a romantic. Claire was the maid of honor and Nathan was the best man, but that was it for the wedding party and it ended up working pretty well because the two of them admitted a few days before the wedding that they’d been dating for a few weeks. Neither Duke nor Audrey wanted a big wedding and they got married on the bluffs overlooking the water before taking the party to the Gull which was a lot bigger than the dozen guest wedding. They had debated a lot on their first dance whether they wanted it to be the first song they danced to or the song that Duke had proposed with before they just decided to do both, starting with Savage Garden’s I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You and then moving on to Adam Sandler’s I Wanna Grow Old With You. 

Since neither Duke nor Audrey had any family other than Duke’s brother Wade who declined the invitation, claiming that he was too busy with work, they skipped right to the wedding party dance and then cut the cake, which was dolphin themed and involved telling the story of her birthday and then the proposal and showing off of her jewelry that she’d decided to wear for the day. From there the whole thing degenerated into more of a party than a reception which they much preferred. Partially because it made it easier for them to slip out early. Neither of them were much into parties and they were rather eager to get on with their wedding night. Only a few of them noticed when the Cape Rouge pulled out of the harbor about halfway through the party, headed for their honeymoon destination of the Cayman Islands. 

It took over a decade before they realized that they weren’t aging at all and they were both more than a little confused about it, but there was nothing they could do at the moment. The next time the barn came around and Lexi DeWitt came to town, they headed out to Kick ‘Em Jenny Neck and parked it to wait for Agent Howard to show up which he did before long, confused as to why they were there and who she was. He could tell that she wasn’t Lexi. They gave him the quick overview of the time travel thing before Audrey said, “And then we realized that we weren’t aging…”

“Neither of you?” Howard asked surprised. 

“Nope. Couldn’t tell it by looking at me but I’m over sixty,” Duke told him. 

“That means that you’ve formed a true soulbond,” he told them before getting into the explanation. “You are from another world. A world where humans are more evolved than they are here, including being immortal. There are two ways to grant a mortal immortality. The brute force method of forcibly joining your life forces or a natural soulbond. Since you weren’t aware of any of this, it is clearly the latter.” 

There were a few more questions and answers before Duke and Audrey left, heading for the hideaway to wait out Lexi’s time in Haven. Dwight was the leader of the guard now and she wasn’t sure how he had gotten no one to mention Audrey and how much she looked like Lexi, but he’d managed somehow. It helped that she wasn’t nearly as active in the community anymore. She’d retired from the station about the time that she realized that she wasn’t aging and she had basically gone into business with Duke. Haven stayed their home base, and they still used the apartment above the Gull for their overflow stuff, but it was rare that Audrey stayed there while Duke made a solo run anymore. They were both pretty much at the fringes of the town anymore so there weren’t a lot of people that familiar with them. 

During their time using the hideaway as their home base, they kept in contact with Dwight, Nathan, and Claire to keep abreast of the goings on and once they got word that the barn had come and gone with Lexi inside, they headed back to Haven and then did the same thing over again twenty-seven years later when Paige arrived and every twenty-seven years after that.


End file.
